Update: The Autumn Effect

Although I already updated my blog today, I figured I would write a quick posting about my lunging session with Walker.  For those of you keeping score, this is what my last week has been like:

Wednesday: lesson where every other horse had a freak attack and so Walker didn't have to work hard

Thursday: day off in light of my exhaustion

Friday: useless ride where we walked for 45 minutes

Saturday: a real ride with real work

Sunday: day off because I hurt my back

Monday: a quick ride in the indoor arena for 20 minutes

Tuesday: a day off because I'm swamped with school

Wednesday: a day off because I'm swamped with school

So as some of you may be able to guess, Walker has not had a lot of work over the past week.  In fact, he's only had one real ride, and he hasn't even been worked at all since Monday.  I knew that I would have to lunge him today, and I made a point of finding at least an hour to put aside to do so.  I even naively hoped that I would be able to put in a little 25 minutes ride on him, but then school got crazy and I didn't hit the barn until later than originally planned.  After that idea fell through, I decided that I would lunge him quickly (15 minutes) and hop on him bareback (15 minutes).  

Then I hit the barn.

Already we were off to a bad start because besides not being worked since Monday, he was also apparently cooped up inside due to rain yesterday and today.  I put a lead line on him and led him outside, and right away the head flew up and the nostrils starting flaring.  I tried my best to lead him to the indoor arena without getting kicked, but I was seriously starting to think that things were going to get crazy.

I attached him to the lunge line and asked for a walk.  Canter.  He started to canter at top speed and continued to do so for the next 15 minutes without me asking for it.  Now, Walker is normally a very lazy horse, and he normally has to be gently encouraged (i.e. smacked on the rump with a lunge whip) to pick up the pace to even a leisurely lope.  But this was definitely a canter, a canter I had not seen him do since I first got him (in his crazy days when he had been cooped up for two months before being shipped to me and was an absolute maniac on the lunge line).  Needless to say, riding him was out of the question - not because I was nervous, but because I didn't have time to get all the energy out of him AND ride.  I am definitely glad that I didn't decide to just hop on him without lunging him though because I'm sure I would have eaten dirt.

Anyway, while Walker was making me dizzy on the lunge line, I had some time to think.  Technically, I have only seen Walker in the summer.  It's Fall now and already the horses (i.e. all the horses) are nearing that transition period where they go wacky when we move them to the indoor arena.  It gets colder, their energy level goes up, and then we confine them to a small space for the better part of 8 months.  Counter intuitive but completely necessary.  I'll be curious if today was a teaser for what Autumn (and dare I say Winter) will do to my boy and how unmanageable he will become as the temperature drops to unreasonable extremes.

The second thing I noticed was that Walker was cantering on the wrong lead, quite fast, in a tight circle.  I always lunge him on his bad side first (mostly because I get bored by the time I get to the second side and so that side usually gets done less).  I noticed that he would canter on his bad side for awhile, do a flying lead change if he decided it was actually more comfortable to canter on the correct lead (impressive, by the way), and then eventually go back to his bad side.  He is becoming adept at the counter canter to compensate for the fact that he dislikes his bad side, for which, frankly, who can blame him.  

But this got me thinking about loping outside.  I always talk about my frantic corner - the corner at the bottom of the arena which, when I'm loping on his bad side, we never manage to make.  Now I'm wondering if he's actually barrelling down the long end of the arena on the wrong lead and finding that its physically impossible to make the turn, which is why he breaks out of the lope.  The couple times I managed to force a couple strides out of him felt pretty choppy but I figured it was the fact that he was unprepared to make the turn (or simply finding it difficult).  Now I'm wondering if it's simply because he's on the wrong lead.  He has clearly become so smooth at counter cantering that maybe I'm not noticing.  Besides, he switches his leads easily enough, and cantering on the wrong lead down a straight line wouldn't be nearly as noticeable.  Now I'm going to have to pay special attention to that the next time we're out to see if that's the problem.  

Window Shopping

In keeping with my latest theme of shopping, I decided to talk about horse shopping.  I was fortunate enough that when I was looking for a horse, my barn owner was crucial in helping me.  I was a first time horse owner back into the riding business who knew absolutely nothing that I needed to know, and even though I poured over ads online, I was bound to get myself into trouble.  My barn owner used to have a breeding operation, and so she had a lot of contacts - both in Canada and the States.  She kept her eyes peeled, told certain "middle men" what she was looking for, and when she found suitable horses, she asked all the appropriate questions.

This experience was wonderful for me and it really turned out.  The only regret I have is that my barn owner almost had TOO MUCH input.  Of course, I needed someone who knew the horse industry so that I wouldn't be scammed and who also knew horses so that I wouldn't be saddled with a sick or potentially dangerous horse.  However, good horses sell fast, and my barn owner explained that when she found a few horses she liked, she would be buying them all and I would have first pick which one I wanted.  My barn owner buys a lot of horses - either for other people or for her lesson program - and so she is constantly bringing them in in shipments of 3.  When she found Walker, she specifically intended him to be the horse for me, but she gave me the option to decide that for myself when he came in with the other horse and pony.  Obviously, the little 12 hand pony was not going to work, but I fell instantly in love with Walker and never even tried the other horse.  The other horse is nice, and perhaps he would have been a better fit for me, but I think he is a better fit for our lesson program whereas Walker probably would've been sent back the minute he slammed the first unsuspecting child into a wall.  In our own unique way, Walker and I just work.

I love that Walker always has an expression on his face that says something more - something with attitude

Even though I love my horse to death, I can't help but window shop for horses.  For those months where I looked at ads and then looked at the videos that my barn owner sent me of potential horses she was considering bringing in, I really enjoyed the process.  It's also nice to dream - about the capabilities of these horses, about having a horse that is however much money, can do whatever you want them to do, can bring  you to wherever you want in your career.

I also feel like horse owners are similar in the sense that loving horses is not just about loving your own horse; it's about loving all horses.  And a lot of horse lovers end up with more than one horse somewhere along the line.  That doesn't mean they don't love their first horse or each of their horses any less; there's just a desire to multiply that love and turn it into a serious passion.  Because you have to be serious to be a horse owner.  It's not all kicks and giggles!

So I still like to shop around.  Walker is 7 now, and the way I see it, in 10-15 years he may be nearing retirement.  I will want to probably have another horse by then (since I intend to still feel and look young!) so that I can start to transition Walker into his retirement life (which I consider to be his good life as a highly pampered pasture ornament).  In 5 years from now I may even be jumping, and if that is the case, my Western Pleasure pony may not be the best option for that.  That doesn't mean I won't be riding Walker, but I may decide to take on a second horse even earlier, while Walker is still in his prime, mostly because I will still be in my prime as well!

In my perhaps irrational imagination, I see myself atop a tall (let's say 16+ hands) Thoroughbred or Warmblood which excels in either jumping, eventing or dressage (none of which I do right now which is half of the appeal). I hope to be a working lawyer by then and so I hope to have the finances to get myself a fancy English horse mostly because I already have the adorable Western quarter horse. While I'm taking the time now to get back into riding, at that point I want to be able to excel in something or simply learn something new. But hey, you never know, I may end up with another quarter horse too!

The way I see it is simple.  Walker is my baby, my first baby, and if I go through a hundred horses and keep none of them, I will probably have Walker until the end of his days.  I want his life to be good so that when he lives forever in a pasture, eating all day and being hand fed treats when I visit him, he will be happy with his life with me as well.  In the meantime, Walker has so much to teach me still and I look forward to the journey.

Horse "Stuff"

In light of my post yesterday and because all I'm able to do today is lunge my poor neglected pony, I figured I'd talk a little about horse stuff.

I LOVE shopping for Walker. I love shopping in general, but now that I have my own horse, I have been able to funnel the greater part of my irrational need to buy high heels into a more practical (at times) obsession with buying Walker whatever he might remotely need.  At present, I have the following list of horse stuff:

- 2 saddles
- 6 saddle pads
- 3 bridles
- 4 bits
- 2 useless horse blankets
- 3 halters
- 2 lead lines
- my own lunge whip (awkwardly living in the back seat of my car)
- a various assortment of brushes and combs (pretty much every kind made)
- saddle bags
- etc.

To those of you who may be horse people, this might not seem like a lot.  In fact, horse people are all the same.  We all have a lot of everything.  However, keep in mind that I have only had Walker since March, and the only thing I bought before then was an English saddle.  The rest I have bought since having him - and a lot of it was for the two measly horse shows that I did.

All that being said, I still love to shop around.  I recently went through every online horse website I could find that had catalogs and had them send them to me so that I could spend the Fall lusting over things I don't need and probably won't use.  I have discovered that this is safer than actually going into a tack shop.  The last time I went to Greenhawk, I went there to pick up a 50 cent braiding comb and came out of there with $200 worth of stuff.  I have a problem.  But besides being addicted to shopping, I'm slightly addicted to my horse.

Who can resist a face like that?

So while it's true that I always seem to be in the market for something (currently horse blankets and full seat breeches), I probably rarely need anything.  The upside to all these catalogs is that I might actually be able to find stuff I like at a cheap price, and of course there's always Christmas.  These days I have my eyes on the following:

Need:

- appropriate winter turnout and stall blanket for Walker (cold winters mean this is closer to a necessity than anything else)

Want (and will probably get):

- full seat breeches (I have a new love affair with breeches - especially considering I ride Western.  However, breeches are SUPER comfy and I don't have any full seat ones)

- horse boots (for jumping so that Walker doesn't hit his legs - I don't expect much natural ability from him so I want him to be safe)
- new Western riding boots (I have mine nicely worn in now which means they're not exactly show appropriate...)
- a big Western buckle and belt (I want to be fashionably Western)

Desire Wistfully:

- an English saddle (I own one but it is worth about as much as I paid for it - which is not a lot.  That being said, this is more of a desire for the future, especially when I've started jumping and actually riding English on a more regular basis)

- a Western saddle (I also have one of these which I actually love, but I am worried that I should have a cheap one to use for mucking around on since the other one is worth more)

- a horse trailer and a truck to go with it (obviously I will not be buying a horse trailer tomorrow, but in the future - way WAY in the future - I would like to be able to load my horse up and take him places for trail rides, like on the beach or to a horse show if I ever do another one again)

- a homemade tack locker (which may make itself into the Want category if I can find a barn that will let me put one in, in which case I have a talented father with talented friends who I'm sure could hammer a few boards together...)

Naturally I would have a cheap English saddle and want an expensive one, and have a good Western saddle and want a cheap one.  I seem to get into a lot of scrapes like that...

In the meantime, I'm realizing that budgeting for a horse isn't exactly what you expect.  You take into consideration the cost of the horse, and the cost of the board, and the cost of the farrier and vet, but  you never seem to take into consideration all the other stuff.  Sure, you realize that  your horse will need a halter, but what you fail to realize is that your horse will probably destroy several halters in his lifetime, and in the meantime, you will probably get bored with it anyway and buy him a new one.  Or you will buy yourself cheap stuff to get by while lusting over more expensive stuff that you hope to buy later.  That being said, as I've come to realize, having a horse means that your friends will never run out of things to buy you for your birthday and Christmas!

The Great Stable Blanket Debate

Back when I got Walker, I went on a huge shopping spree at Greenhawk. I needed pretty much everything, and most importantly, there were lots of things on sale - in particular, winter wear (i.e. turnout blankets). I decided to take the opportunity to buy my winter blankets then - at a time when I knew virtually nothing about horses and horse stuff. I also bought a rain sheet only to discover that my barn owner never puts the horses out in the rain. Needless to say, I also threw out my receipt for all these purchases.

Since then, I've had to buy or replace a lot of stuff. Of course, at the time I was legitimately looking for cheap stuff (since I had none) and so it wasn't a big concern later when I discovered that my bridles were cheap, my grooming supplies were inadequate, etc.

In particular, I took the winter turnout and threw it in the back of my closet. We were, after all, coming into summer at the time. Now five to six months later, the winter catalogs are coming out and, you guessed it, they're advertising winter blankets. And now that I know more about horses, let alone my horse, I'm starting to get concerned that I didn't buy the right thing. If you're keeping count at this point, you'll have noticed that would be two useless blankets I've acquired, and for those of you who don't know me, I just can't imagine myself trying to sell them (I may get over that later in life but I'm one of those "you never know when you might need/want it" people).

What I thought I bought Walker was a turnout. What I think I ACTUALLY bought Walker was a shell. And what I think I want now is both a turnout AND a stable blanket (with no need for the shell).

So now I'm in a pickle. Financially, I just don't have $200+ to throw down on another blanket. However my barn owner is pretty old school. She rarely blankets any of her horses (unless they're turned out a lot or are old or sick) so I know if I ask her she will probably just say that Walker can do without. BUT if you're reading this blog anyways closely, I'm sure by now you can tell how much I love my horse and how much money I'm willing to drop on the darling if it should increase his comfort even by a little.

So I guess I'm in the market for a new blanket...

Scheduling

Today is my first day back at school. It is pouring rain, and I feel as though it's Mother Nature's way of mirroring my feelings about going back to school! :S This week so far has been crazy. I luckily got out to see Walker on Monday, but my next real ride won't be until Saturday. I was optimistic that I'd have time Thursday and Friday but I'm already booked up. I'm already telling people that I have a meeting late Thursday afternoon just so that I can lunge him so he won't go crazy. It's high stress around the school this week with all the first years arriving and me on the orientation committee as well as my regular treasurer responsibilities. And all I can think about is that sweet face:

Torrential Downpours and Tales from the Funny Farm

The city I live in is very odd. It is on a river (like my hometown) and so it should have a nice breeze in the summer. Instead the summers here are usually blistering hot, and the city is like a bubble with the temperature being sometimes very dissimilar to other cities in the province. It also doesn't rain here very much, but when the skies open up, it usually results in a torrential downpour like today.

I wasn't going to ride today mostly because I hurt my back yesterday cleaning up the indoor arena from the loose hay that some of the horses had demolished on their night free in there. In fact, apparently it has been quite entertaining at the barn these last few nights. When I got there yesterday, my barn owner's husband was fixing one of the stalls. It is the only stall without bars and the horse in that stall can put his head out. I always wanted one of those for Walker but I now understand why it is a problem. Apparently the horse in that stall was letting the horse in the stall next to him loose in the barn every night! Quite an impressive talent, I must say, but the first ones to get into the barn the next day would find the horse wandering the halls and were also usually met by the donkey who was drop kick opening the door to the indoor arena (where he was turned out with another horse) and was wreaking havoc on the barn.

For all of you people out there who think donkeys are cute, let me just say that they live up to their stubborn personalities. I have led that donkey down the hall a million times and he walks at a snail pace - unless of course he's free and then he'll tear around the yard like lightning. He's also strong, and although horses are strong as well, horses have boundaries which donkeys clearly do not. I have been drug down halls and slammed into walls by that donkey too many times to count and apparently there isn't a farrier in the whole city who will even go near that animal's feet. There is never a full moment in a barn.

Anyway, unfortunately I'm not going to make it to the barn tonight because of the downpour and the rain - also because I'm swamped this week with law school and some of the committees I'm on. I probably won't make it out until Thursday and I'll definitely miss my lesson Wednesday. Hopefully Walker will stay in a somewhat well-mannered mood so that we can pick up where we left off :s

But for the meantime, I'll leave you with a quote from John Wayne:

You have no idea how true that is, John!

Whoa Walker

Despite the title of this post (whose meaning will become apparent soon enough), I actually had a good ride today.  After Wednesday's weird lesson with all the horses, I decided to give Walker the day off on Thursday - and also because sometimes we both need a little break.  On Friday I went out to the barn with the friend that took the pictures of Walker and me.  It was a pretty sad day for her because our barn owner is selling the horse that she leases.  It's time for her to retire, and so it was my friend's last day with her.  For whatever reason, the barn was packed - there were three girls besides the two of us, and a girl in the middle trying to lunge her horse.  I had my back massaged earlier in the day (I have some back problems), and so my back was a little tender.  I loped Walker along the long end of the arena about three times, could feel that he was a bit tense (i.e. he might throw a buck), and decided on not ruining my recently fixed back.  Instead, Walker and I jogged for maybe 10 minutes and then walked for probably 45!  Oh well.  It is nice every so often to just have an easy ride.

I feel like this picture accurately describes my relationship with my horse - both of us staring at each other wondering what the other is doing

Today I went out to the barn with the intention of actually getting some work done.  I was pretty happy with Walker, but he was definitely feeling his wheaties!  When I asked him to lope, he was even cantering fast on his good side (which he rarely does), and he even did one of those 45 degree angle barrel racing turns around the arena.  Apparently he was in a rush to get nowhere!

Because I wasn't able to get him to do some of the nice circles we've been doing lately (mostly because he was too excited to run), I decided to change my strategy.  I did some rollbacks which we do a lot lately to get him listening to me, and then, to switch things up, I got him to do rollbacks on the opposite long end of the arena.  You see, I consistently do rollbacks on one end of the arena (Walker and I are both creatures of habit), and Walker is so smart that he has figured out every time I ask him to turn on the rail that I want him to lope off.  In a way, this is a bad thing, and at one point today, I asked him to turn on the rail (simply jogging), and he shot off into a lope.  I would hate for him to run off on someone just because they asked him to turn on the rail, so I moved us to the other end of the arena.  This worked pretty nicely actually, and I also started adding a second end.  I would get Walker to do rollbacks but on an L-shape (loping one long end and then the next short end before doubling back).  I realized today that Walker (like most horses) has ends of the arena that he barrels down as opposed to others, and switching my L-shape rollbacks to different ends of the arena in different combinations really helped me gain control on ALL the ends of the arena.

I also realized that some of his bad habits at the lope are my fault.  At one point, I got him loping nicely on his bad side (which rarely happens), but the minute we rounded the bend towards the end where he shoots off like a rocket, he dropped his head (as if to get behind the bit) and took off.  I realized that most of the time, I ride his mouth down that end because he goes too fast.  Instead, today I made sure to let him run as fast as he wanted and gave him lots of rein.  When I did so, he continued to go at his fast pace, but he didn't drop his head and get behind the bit like he normally does.  He was not nearly as tense going down that end as he normally is (he usually feels like a coiled spring ready to buck me to my grave), and so I'm hoping that with a little more rein and trust, we will be able to get over his tendencies - tendencies acquired from my own bad habits.

Walker pushing me over during our photo shoot - he's likes to hog the spotlight

Finally, on a more humorous note, because I was doing all these rollbacks, I kept yelling "whoa" every two or three seconds.  My barn owner was down at the barn with her husband and heard me.  All of a sudden she came running up the hill.  I stopped loping Walker, and she said "Are you ok?".  Confused, I responded, "Yes... Are you?"  Apparently, she heard me yelling "whoa" so many times and assumed that Walker had run off with me and that I was yelling for help!  It was a pretty funny misunderstanding, but not altogether an impossible conclusion!