Lays Potato Chips

Today I cheated on Walker again.  And I have to say, I didn't mind!  I feel like horses are like Lays Chips - you can never have just one!

It was quite a busy weekend actually.  Although Walker was still a little ouchie on Thursday, he seemed to be back to normal on Friday.  I managed to successfully canter him in both directions a couple full circles.  I was talking to my barn owner and she said, "I heard that you had a good ride."  To which I replied, "Yeah.  He was pretty good for me.  He bucked a couple of times on the circles but that's alright."  "That is NOT alright," she said.  And I said: "You have higher standards than me."  In truth, I think that I may actually cause some of the bucking, so I expect it to go away with time.  I think that I might jab him every so often with the spurs, so I really can't blame him for that.  I'm so used to his bucks now that I just consider it part of the ride!  Yeah, yeah, I know.  Probably not a good thing.

Boots all lined up in a row - on a tray of their own, of course

On Saturday I didn't get out to the barn because my mother was over.  We went to the local Greenhawk, which is actually an hour away, and bought some new Winter boots, a new bit I'm going to try on Walker, a crop, and spurs for a friend.  My friend has started riding a new horse in her lessons and he's spur-broke so she's having a hard time getting him to move forward.  She wanted me to pick some out for her because she doesn't really know much about spurs and I, of course, have used every type of spurs available!  I ended up getting her really mild ones because although I use spurs regularly, I am a firm believer in not using spurs unless you have to.  She is able to get the horse moving forward so I think all she needs is a little extra help.

My new Winter riding boots - they're fleece lined :)

Then that evening my barn was having an awards banquet.  It turned out to be quite a fancy affair.  It was in a local hotel's ballroom, and everyone got all dressed up.  There was a really nice meal, and my mother got to come with me.  We sat with my instructor, and a friend of mine at the barn and her family.  And Walker and I even won an award - champion senior novice!  My friend got reserve champion, and we were laughing to ourselves because it was pretty much a draw between the two of us except that I did one more show than her!  Oh well, I'm still pretty proud.  AND, as part of his prize, Walker got a big trophy and a new blue cooler.  So now I no longer need to buy a cooler, and I think that my barn owner specifically picked this award out for us because she came up to me afterwards and said, "That's his colour, right?"

We tried to take this photo in front of my Christmas tree but it was too bright - we're not the best photographers...

Today my mother came out to the barn with me before she had to go home.  Since I always ride bareback on Sundays, we just played around.  My friend (the reserve champion) was at the barn with her daughter, and she let me ride her horse Lark, who is a big fancy palomino Canadian Warmblood.  Let's just say that she's a COMPLETELY different horse from Walker.  For one thing, when I asked her to canter, she threw a big buck.  This is because what I thought was a "gentle" squeeze of my leg was actually probably the roughest she'd ever been asked - and that was me without spurs!  I laughed at the time because a squeeze like that would NEVER get Walker to canter; it probably wouldn't even get him to jog.  She was very forward.  Her idea of a nice gentle trot was what I would call Walker's kamikaze trot, and of course, like the good English horse that she is, she keeps her head much higher than Walker's.  It was a great experience, and my friend has asked me to ride or lunge Lark on Tuesday for her since she can't make it to the barn for a few days.  As much as I want to ride Walker on Tuesday, I really think I want to ride Lark.  Hopefully there will be time for both of them!

Walker sporting his new cooler; looking sharp as always

Also, as a final note, I am constantly looking at English saddles online because I think I'm going to save up for a new one in the next year or so.  I thought that I wanted a jumping or close contact saddle, but today I rode Lark in a dressage saddle.  And all I have to say about that is "wow".  Soooo comfortable.  It has such a deep seat that it even made sitting Lark's forward trot easy.  Maybe it's time to broaden my horizons...

Who am I kidding?  I am pretty proud of him!

English vs Western

I found this cute video online of a dressage rider and a reiner doing a performance at the Royal Winter Fair this past week.  I think it would have been great to see in person, but it's also pretty cute to watch.  Essentially it's a battle of the disciplines:

Ouchie Toesies but Correct Leads

Today I was still feeling a little sick but I went out to the barn anyway.  Walker was looking much better than yesterday but was still a little off.  After lunging him, I decided that he was ok to ride but that I would need to take it slow.  For whatever reason, he didn't seem lame or overly sore, but he definitely seemed like he was gingerly taking every step.  At first I was just going to walk/jog him, but I threw in a little lope as well.

Unfortunately we got snow the other day which meant that the outdoor arena was a mess.  It was also pretty solid yesterday when we were riding so I decided that I better ride the little prince in the indoor where it was soft and warm.  As nice as it was to have the farrier yesterday, I wasn't entirely ready for Walker to have his shoes pulled.  I still planned on going on a little subdivision trail ride (literally a trail ride through my barn owner's subdivision), but now I feel bad making him walk on the hard pavement without shoes (and obviously, the ground is starting to freeze and we have snow) - so that's that.

I've also sadly decided that we're officially stuck in the indoor.  The other instructor has already moved her lessons to the indoor, and the only reason that my instructor hasn't done so yet is that she's a firm believer in getting in every ounce of riding possible in the outdoor before we become useless in the indoor.  That means that I will probably still get one or two lessons outside (unless it snows again), but having looked at the weather for the next little while, I think my own personal riding days in the outdoor are finished.

This is unfortunate because earlier in the week, I decided that my goal for riding before we moved inside was that I wanted to successfully canter Walker on both leads without fuss in the same ride - as in, ride him successfully on one side and not have him throw a temper tantrum when I asked him to do the other lead.  Oh Walker.  Unfortunately, a series of events led to me not even being able to ride him this week since that revelation, and apparently things can change so fast that my goal became unrealized as quickly as snow fell from the sky.  :S

All that being said, Walker actually did canter on both leads correctly today in the indoor arena.  Mind you, because of his feet, I only got him to canter maybe two full circles on each lead, but he did them semi-successfully (if you ignore the few bucks he threw, which, of course, I always do).  The real tester will be tomorrow when he is 100% back to normal.  Wish me luck.

My other news is that I may have signed up for a clinic, which, if you've been following my irrational anxieties about lessons, was probably a very foolish thing to do!  The clinic is January 2nd and 3rd so luckily I have about two months before I can start freaking out about it.  The clinician is a man who excels at Western Pleasure and takes his horses to Congress each year (having actually won it a few times).  This is Walker's discipline so it should be useful for me, but he's also a really good rider/trainer/instructor.  I know that most of the girls who ride in his clinics ride English, and they get a lot out of the clinics with him simply because he's so knowledgeable.  I'm told that he will also hop on unruly horses (i.e. Walker) and straighten them out, and that the clinics are designed in pairs so that you are riding at the same time with another rider of similar capabilities (where my barn owner is going to find another fool with a horse like Walker, I don't know!).  My only goals before the clinic is to have a semi-successful canter going on by then, and the only major problem I have is that I won't be around to ride Walker for a few weeks before because I will be home for Christmas.  I hope to come back to the barn periodically over the holidays to get a couple rides in, but the majority of my time will be with my family (not a bad thing for me, just a bad thing for my riding).  For now, it all seems doable, but I'm sure I'll have a nervous breakdown by New Year's Eve. :S

Dear God, Walker, please just be good for those two days and I will give you whatever you want!

Cheating on a Loved One

Tonight I cheated.  On Walker.  And boy, did he give me a drop-dead-on-the-driveway look when I did so.

This morning Walker had his shoes pulled by the farrier.  I wasn't expecting him to be at the barn until next week, and although it's usually a good surprise to have the farrier arrive early/on time, I wasn't entirely ready for Walker to lose his shoes.  Most of the horses don't need shoes in the Winter where I am because of the snow and because we're mostly in the indoor arena where the footing is really soft.  My barn owner insists that it's also good for their feet to get a breather and get to act like hooves for awhile.  Since Walker was due mid-November, I decided it was the perfect time to get it done.

However, as expected, he was really tender today.  So much so that he could barely get to the cross ties without looking lame.  I felt really bad, and I didn't want to ride him under those conditions.  I wouldn't be surprised if he has never had his shoes pulled before, so I decided to ride another horse at the barn for my lesson instead.

The horse I chose was named Lucky, and I have to admit that I was pretty lost without Walker.  I haven't ridden another horse in 7 months since I got him.  I was entirely on edge, even though this horse is a lesson horse sometimes used for beginners and is Western Pleasure slow.  When we got out to the arena, my instructor suggested that I take my spurs off because she was sometimes "forward" in the evenings on a cold night, and one of the little kids in the lesson before said that when she rode her last week, she was going in circles a lot.  When her head flew up and she was breathing fire, I became instantly on alert.  It was kind of funny actually.  When we were cantering later (yes, that's right, I actually got to canter in a lesson for a change!), she would pick up the speed on the way to the gate and I would lose the canter.  My instructor was laughing because she said that she could see me tense up and pull her down unconsciously.  I was expecting her to bolt like Walker always did, and I was also expecting her not to turn as easily - so much so, that we almost ran into the fence because I wasn't giving her enough direction to turn.  I was just automatically assuming that she, like Walker, was going to fight me on the turns and I was preparing for the temper tantrum.

Lucky was actually a really nice horse, and once I calmed myself down, I was able to get her into a nice little Quarter Horse frame and moving pretty well.  It was a lot more work without spurs though - is that what you people go through? It was actually a pretty good experience because it taught me that I'm not actually that bad of a rider.  I asked my instructor if my hands were unquiet like she always says they are and she said no.  As suspected, my hands and arms flail so much with Walker because he makes it so difficult to do simple things like turning that I get frantic.  With a horse like Lucky who, surprise surprise, actually turns when you ask her to (such a novel idea), I didn't need to be frantic.

All that being said, I'd take my boy any day!  Even though I gave Lucky some treats for being a good replacement, I had to give Walker some too (I'm such a pushover).  My barn owner is going to give him some bute tomorrow to see if it helps him with the soreness, but she says I can ride him anyway.  I will have to play it by ear.  If I get out to the barn and he's still limping around, then I will just give him lots of love and call it a day, but I will for sure ride him Friday.  I was actually sick today so I'm sure I could use the break tomorrow.

Also, my trainer hopped on him the other day, and even though they got into a mini-argument at first, she eventually got him cantering just fine on both leads.  She says my legs are just not strong enough, but I imagine that it's a combination of that and something subtle that I'm doing - and the fact that Walker knows how to push my buttons, of course!

Even though Walker is so much trouble and really makes me work for everything, he is always worth it. ♥

Lazy Weekend

I don't really have that much to report from this weekend.  I rode on Saturday in my Western saddle and Western spurs, and I was able to get Walker to pick up the correct lead on his good side - at least a couple times.  He was still giving me the run around, but my trainer is supposedly going to hop on him soon and give me a full report.  Since it looks like he's not hurt, she is pretty much just going to give him a little tune-up.  Other than that, I was pretty happy with him.  The barn was really busy and we were riding with some other horses.  He didn't bolt or become unmanageable, although he did try a few little tricks on me.  We even did a little bit of cantering with another horse in the ring (which is usually a disaster with him), but he wasn't that bad.  Nothing to be desired or anything, but at least he didn't have a complete meltdown.

Today, I just went out to the barn for a quick bareback ride.  It was a lot colder today, and one of the girls was riding in a quarter sheet.  I'm going to buy Walker a new cooler soon, and I'm trying to decide if I should buy him a quarter sheet as well.  I'm pretty undecided since I think that he will be ok (especially since we ride in an indoor arena all Winter long), but I'm also a sucker who would buy anything remotely useful for my horse.  I'm pretty much running my own tack shop out of my car, and I have things in there that I don't even use.

Other than that, Walker will get Monday off like normal and Tuesday as well since I have an appointment with my massage therapist.  Then we'll ride on Wednesday in the lesson.  Hopefully this week we'll also get for a little hack through the subdivision like some of the other girls did last week.  We could use a relaxing ride checking out the scenery.

Having an apple snack while I sit out in the sun on a picnic table

Hocus Pocus

Unfortunately, I never made it out to the barn today because I had a couple of appointments and decided to take the day to work on one of my two major papers I need to finish (and start) by the end of the term.  But I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone last night who just barely got a horse this past month, and we were discussing all the things we wanted to work on.  She made me laugh because she kept telling me about what bothered her with her horse, and of course they were quite simple things: her horse doesn't have a hard stop, she canters faster than she wants her to, etc.  I'm not downplaying any of these things, but the contrast in the conversation was pretty hilarious.

Walker is smart.  Like really smart.  And he has developed a hundred ways to get out of work.  Every day with him I have to try and out-think him since out-muscling him will rarely work.  Perhaps a more experienced rider could overcome him easier, but to be fair, he has even managed to rear my trainer off once or twice.  He is a challenge, but luckily, he is not malicious (except when he reared my trainer off, but knowing her, she probably pushed him to it).  When he bucks, it is usually to send a message not throw you to the ground, and the one time I actually did fall off him, it was abundantly clear that he felt bad - he even waited right beside me until I got up. So I decided to compile a couple lists to focus on the hilarity instead of the things that drive me crazy.  You can't always focus on the negative!

Ways my horse is too smart and too curious for his own good:

• he likes to put obstacles in our path to make it extremely difficult for me to get my way (as in, he will veer towards things - stepping blocks, cavelettis, people - because he knows that I will not force him to break a leg or kill someone in order to canter)
• when we do patterns, it takes him about twice through before he has the pattern under wraps (this means that in lessons, when he wants to behave, I can pretty much go through an entire pattern, no matter how complicated, on auto-pilot)
• he has figured out that if he pretends like he is going to canter to the direction I want him to and bends in that direction, he can throw me off guard and switch leads at the last minute to canter in the direction he wants to (this usually results in a mild form of whiplash)
• he has also figured out that if he canters on the wrong lead, he will stump me (if he wasn't cantering, I would just make him canter, but this way, I am forced to stop him and ask again - which means that for a few seconds, he doesn't have to canter)
• he will also canter unbelievably small circles to avoid covering long distances (this way, he is doing what I want by cantering a circle, but he he can stay close to the gate - this also sometimes results in whiplash since I'm not asking for it)
• he knows that if he's getting treats, it's at the end of our ride, and so he's pretty much bouncing in his stall waiting for me to give him something when we're done (even if I don't give him a treat in weeks - he still knows)
• he knows how to take his bucket off the (closed) hook in his stall and throw it around so that the humans will have to refill it
• he is mischievous because he knows where the humans like to put things (he will knock over EVERY SINGLE bucket in his path in case someone left some grain that he could have, and he also likes to look under coats, through my brushes, and in my boots - just in case)
• he is playful and chews and grabs at everything (he once grabbed my barn owner's rider level instruction book and shook it around like a dog; he also likes to throw my brushes and boots around, and anything else that I might remotely need)
• you cannot leave the stall unattended if it is not latched (he will try to escape every time, and although I don't think he would make a break for it; he just enjoys the challenge)

Checking to see if the coast is clear so that he can try to escape his stall

Things that are great about him:

• he is a doll in the crossties (I can walk underneath his head instead of going around, and he always waits patiently for me even if I leave him all alone while I go to the bathroom or tack room)
• he is great about getting his feet done either by the farrier or by me (when I go to pick his feet, he will pick them up for me if I tap on his leg, no matter what order I decide to do his feet and he will even let me rest his leg on my knee if I have to work really hard at getting pebbles out)
• he LOVES other horses and so you can pretty much turn him out with anyone (and they love him too; he is a lady's man)
• he is forgiving (I may not always be gentle or the best rider out there, but he gives me a chance to re-prove myself every time we ride)
• he always takes the bit (we have an agreement: when I take his halter off, he gets to yawn, which he does like clockwork, and then he opens his mouth for the bit)
• he doesn't bite or do anything overly malicious (I don't count ramming me into fences because I once knew a malicious horse, and there's a big difference between a horse trying to show you whose boss and a horse trying to kill you)
• he likes to rest his head on my shoulders when I'm brushing him (he's cute like that)
• he isn't spooky at all; he's more curious than anything else (he doesn't freak out at clippers or dogs or random equipment in the ring)
• and he's cute of course!

I'm surprised that Walker hasn't figured this out yet

Because I was stuck inside for most of the day, I decided to organize some of the mess in my apartment.  I cleaned Walker's bits and changed the bit from his old bridle to his new bridle.  This picture may not look like its very organized, but believe me when I say it's much better than it was!  Now I just need a place for his old bridle, and perhaps hooks to hand my riding jackets/sweaters on...

this is in my bedroom by the way - I think my next apartment will need a storage room...

I forgot to mention that on Halloween night, I watched my favorite Halloween movie: Hocus Pocus.  It's kind of ironic that this is my favorite Halloween movie because Walker's registered name is actually Walking Hocus Pocus.  Now I guess the movie has an extra special meaning!

Vertical

So we jumped our first vertical today, but don't get too excited. It was only 1'3". When I set it up, it looked so tiny, but I'm glad that I picked that low because he kept nicking the pole every time over! I get the impression that he is just so lazy that he never lifts his legs higher than he needs to, but it is a good start.

We also did some crossrail work and I found it interesting to notice that he almost always canters out of the crossrail (even though I never make a point of asking for it specifically), but he trotted out of the vertical. I have to say that I'm much more partial to cantering out. It feels more smooth and less choppy.

I was going to canter him into the crossrail, but I was having issues with his lead (shocker). The angle that I had the crossrail set up required him to canter into it on his good lead because it was a tight turn coming out. However, every time he cantered out of the crossrail, even when I trotted in, he picked up the wrong lead. I didn't also want to canter into the jump on the wrong lead as well and risk hurting him. I tried to canter him into the jump in the other direction, but the turn was too tight and there wasn't enough space to do it properly so I failed each time. I didn't really put too much thought into stride length or anything when I was setting up the jump so ill keep that in mind for next time.

Interestingly enough, I decided to free lunge him when I was done riding and try to get him to join up with me. I only lunged him for about 5 minutes and I was happy that he joined up after a couple seconds. I will have to do that more often. The part that was particularly interesting though was that the little bugger loped on both leads with no problems, which reinforces my theory that he is just being a brat. The other thing I've changed in the past few weeks is that I've been riding English, and in particular, I've been riding him in my English spurs. Although I had better control of him in his old bit today, he still tried to ram me into the fence, which suggests disrespect of my leg as well. Half the reason I moved up to Western spurs when I got him was because the English spurs weren't strong enough. Maybe if I throw the western saddle back on this weekend and ride him in my Western spurs, I'll be able to get him loping on both sides again. We will see. I feel like having horses is simply a matter of experimenting with different ideas until you find what works. Even if the Western spurs are the answer, I'm still going to ride in the English ones. I want him to respect me no matter what I use. Plus, it'll simply make me stronger.

Other than that, it was a pretty good ride. I tend to stay pretty happy after I jump him, even when he won't canter on a lead or he misbehaves in other ways. He's a trooper over the jumps, considering his obviously limited capabilities, and I know that those days will be done in a couple weeks, other than the off little jump in the indoor arena.

On a final note, I was talking to a girl at the barn whose horse was also trained Western Pleasure and is related to Walker. They told her that her horse would never jump over 2 feet as well, but she has jumped her horse as high as 3'3"! Maybe there's hope for Walker yet!