Lesson Cancelled

We're in the middle of a snowstorm here so my lesson ended up getting cancelled tonight. We're getting 30-40 cm of snow (I think that is about a foot of snow?). Anyway, I feel bad for Walker because now he's going to get 4 days without turnout or exercise. I intended to go to the barn Monday but I went on Sunday so that I could finish studying for my last exam on Monday. I didn't think it would be a big deal because although I knew this storm was coming, I figured that I'd get out to the barn tonight either way. Unfortunately my barn owner tells me that the roads aren't great out there and she didn't think I should risk it. Since Walker wasn't able to be turned out on the crazy ice (for a week and a half!), he hasn't had exercise since Sunday. I can't go to the barn tomorrow either because I have an appointment and somewhere I have to be in the evening. :( so Friday will be my next ride and also my last one until I go home for the holidays. Luckily M has agreed to lunge him for me over Christmas, and I should get back to see him for the day at least on Boxing Day. I had such high hopes for a fun and productive holiday season at the barn but I guess that has all fallen apart. I haven't even had time to work on our jumping (such as it is). Hopefully in the new year, we'll start doing it in our group lessons.

I also noticed the last time I was at the barn that my stirrup leathers are super worn from rubbing up against my boots. I've only had them for a year (and have probably only used then for half that time). I know that they were cheap but now I feel like I should replace them. That and my computer which, according to the technical people in my life, "is in its final death throws." I would much rather put $1000 towards a new saddle so I think I'm going to give it a chance to actually die first. My computer has been flashing a warning message for a year and a half now that the hard drive is going to fail, which apparently doesn't happen - they normally just die, not warn you they're going to. My computer is now making creepy metal clicking sounds. It is a lot like the hero in the movie that just refuses to die. I have faith that it will persevere.

Since I have failed on the photo front (and the seeing my pony front), I leave you with my other guy, who has singlehanded destroyed my Christmas tree in true Christmas spirit.

Almost the Holidays

Although I doubted that I'd have time, I made it out to the barn last night, but unfortunately I didn't bother taking any pictures. It was -11 degrees Celsius here (12 degrees Fahrenheit) and so I was more anxious to just get the ride over with. However once I got started, I quickly warmed up.

Yesterday Walker and I worked on only a couple things. He was feeling slightly defiant and so I was working on keeping him in a nice frame. For myself, I was working on keeping my shoulders back. No matter how straight I sit in the saddle, my blasted shoulders are never back! :s other than a couple leg yields and a few turns, that was pretty much it. Just a quick ride to get the blood flowing.

Although he wasn't sweating and our barn is heated, I threw his cooler on him while I puttered around anyway. Boy those things heat up! I stuck my hand under it after a few minutes, and it was like a furnace under there. I'm noticing that Walker hasn't really been sweating that much lately. I don't know if its because he hasn't been working hard enough or if he just doesn't sweat in the cold as much. In the summer, he was always dripping with sweat no matter what we did, but so far this winter, the only times he has been sweaty has been when he was feeling forward and we cantered cantered cantered around the ring like maniacs. And even then, he only sweat on his neck. It really doesn't worry me or anything. The only reason I bring it up is because I always feel better when he's sweating because I know he was working!

Other than that, I rebraided Walkers tail the other day. He has a tail bag to keep it clean for Winter and so I braid and rebraid it every week or so. Every month I take a comb and detangler to it to make sure it's still clean. And I have to say, my horse is gifted with some luscious locks. His tail is already so long that it drags behind him a couple inches, and it will soon need a trim. He also has a super thick mane. I wish I had hair like that! The nice thing about braiding his tail and using a tail bag is that I really give it a chance to grow because he can't step on it. He is very egotistical about his tail. He always tries to wrench it out of my hands and walk away from me if we're in his stall. I guess I'd do the same if I had hair like him!

Day off today to study (although I may change my mind) and out to the barn Monday. We may do some jumping, and I may incorporate a crop for the first time ever. I doubt he will like that much, and I also doubt that I am coordinated enough to successfully use one so we shall see how that goes!

Icy Days

Walker didn't get turned out again today but some of the horses did. It was fairly treacherous. I helped my trainer bring them in and all I could think was that either me or the horse was going to slip on the ice, and neither scenario boded well for me! As much as I want Walker turned out, I also don't want him to end up with cuts on his legs from going through ice or slipping and breaking a leg. He's not exactly the most graceful pony.

My ride today wasn't too bad. He was feeling a little lazy (as was I), and so I worked on some conditioning exercises (probably more for me than him, but they were equally beneficial for us both). After a quick warmup, I started trotting two circles, loping a circle, walking a circle, turn on the haunches to change directions and repeat. After awhile I had to start switching up the amount of circles (sometimes two circles at the lope or one circle of trot, sometimes no walk) because Walker is good at patterns and he started slamming on the brakes after his designated one circle of lope. What a lazy bugger! We did this for probably the equivalent of 20 or more circles at the lope, but it was good for me because I find I get so winded trying to keep him going for several circles in a row in my English spurs. So clearly we could both use the exercise.

Besides turns on the haunches, we also switched it up and did some turns on the forehand. Not surprisingly, Walker was much better in one direction than the other, and turning to the left on the haunches is a mess - something between a side pass and a turn on the forehand. Ugh. I like doing turning exercises in my English spurs because I find it easier to keep contact on and use both legs to facilitate the turns, but he moves so much better off the Western spurs. I know he's stiff so we'll just keep working on it. I know he can do them - he's a Western horse. He's all about those lovely spins.

Can't make it to the barn tomorrow. I still have one more exam on Tuesday, and I think I'm being too cocky to think that I can prepare all my notes AND go to the barn everyday. Maybe if I was more of a morning person, but gale force winds can't get me up in the morning. Tonight I'm off to see the Hobbit on opening night so its been a nice couple days of relaxation before the work begins again.

I've been debating about what to get Walker for Christmas, and I was wondering what you guys planned to get your horses. I don't really want to buy him a Likit or something like that because all I can think about is giving a child a big bag of candy and saying, "now you can treat yourself whenever you want." Not the best idea for Mr. Gorby Guts. My only other idea is to give him my unconditional love but he already gets that every day!

Skillz

I just wanted to write a quick post after my lesson tonight and also to show you my amazing skillz at taking videos of my rides.  This is a screen shot from the ride I taped on Monday, and as you can see from the picture, the whole video was super helpful.  *rolls eyes*  I guess I should try my other camera next time. :S

As you can see, the video isn't blurry at all :P

In Wednesday night lesson news, Walker was pretty good.  There was a brief appearance from Bruce at the beginning of the lesson who threw a mini temper tantrum, but then he got over himself and let Walker come back.  We worked a lot on bending to the inside and pushing Walker into corners, which I will admit, I tend to let go a lot when I'm riding alone.  This is especially true at the canter, and I really had to work at moving him into the corners instead of making the circle smaller and smaller like he wants to do.  It helped that I rode in my Western saddle and my Western spurs.  Other than that, my form wasn't as good as it has been lately. I was definitely leaning back in my saddle at the lope and also to the inside.  I don't know why but that seems to be my reaction these days when Walker decides to be more forward.  I also tend to fall apart more during lessons than when I ride myself.  I'm sure it comes from wanting to please my instructor and instead doing worse. :S  I can't say that I was upset with the night though because, as you may have figured out, Wednesday night lessons are normally a disaster for me.  I have faith that now that we're in the indoor arena for good, things may start to look up again.  One of the other horses, Ash, also had a mini meltdown but he was freaking out because the cars were crunching over the ice/snow outside of the door which resulted in a little bit of wild and frantic cantering near the door.  Other than that, I can't complain!

The only downside to the snowstorm we got on Monday is that it was followed by freezing rain.  This means that the snow has a level of ice over top of it, and everywhere is treacherous.  In fact, there are normally four people in our lesson, but for the past few months, there has only been three of us.  This is because the fourth person is an older man (not really old, but older than the rest of us), and he has back problems.  After several months off because of pain, he arrived at the barn tonight with the intention of riding, put his foot out of the car door, slipped on the ice and fell on his back.  Now who knows when he will be able to ride again. :(  Needless to say, the horses haven't been outside because it's way too icy to even get them to their paddocks.  According to my instructor, at this point, it either needs to snow or melt, and it doesn't really look like either are going to happen for about a week.  I think Walker would have more of a chance of being turned out if his field wasn't at the very back and my trainer didn't have to walk up a hill (that is literally just ice) to get them there.  I can only pray that the weather won't be like that for the two weeks that I'm barely riding - you know, those two weeks before I do the clinic. :S  I'm sure Bruce will be out in full force if that's the case!

Luckily, I'm done my first two exams and my next one isn't until next Tuesday.  I will be able to get out to the barn quite often over the next week, I'm hoping.  He will get lots of exercise, if I have anything to say about it!

On a final note, check out this super cool video someone posted on my Facebook wall.  It's impressive and awesome:

Snow Day

Today we got a snow storm, and it's hilarious how people forget how to drive once snow is on the ground.  We live in Atlantic Canada.  It's not a surprise that we will get snow every year!

What happens when I get bored at the barn and no one is around

Even though we were also getting freezing rain and the roads turned out to be pretty slippery, I went out to the barn to see my boy.  Not surprisingly, it was quiet out there even though there was no school for the kids.

I have to say that I didn't have a good ride.  Nothing inherently bad happened.  On the contrary, he was a really good boy considering that he was cooped up because of the weather and I was too lazy to lunge him.  He did everything I asked him to, but it just felt like something was missing.

The past month's worth of rides have been so great, but then I talked to my barn owner the other day and really started to worry about whether or not my riding was adequate for the upcoming clinic.  I went out to the barn with the intention of videotaping myself and seeing a fantastic improvement in my skills.  This was probably a flawed plan from the beginning.  After all, there was nothing different really about today's ride than the rides I've been having, rides which I was ecstatic about until today.  I haven't had a chance to dissect the video yet, and unfortunately it's pretty blurry. But I was overall content with my position and hands, and Walker and I did a lot of canter work.  I was disappointed because I wanted to work on pushing him into the corners since he has a tendency to make the circle smaller, but I wasn't as successful as I wanted to be.  Then, to make matters worse, I decided to ride bareback after I exhausted us both, and I wasn't able to get him cantering.  I don't know what it is, since I have cantered him bareback before.  He was obviously tired from the ride, but I think I was probably more tired and lacked the strength.  Every time I kicked him, he just seemed perturbed with me, like when I took off his saddle, he was hoping that the ride was over.  I was already frustrated as it was that I hadn't successfully accomplished what I wanted to work on today (at least by my obviously too-high standards), so I ended up just giving up and getting off.

"Where is all the grass?  WHERE IS ALL THE GRASS?"

But I did take Walker out into the snow.  From what I gather, Walker came from somewhere warm, and I don't know if he's actually ever seen snow before.  He was puffing and blowing and was quite distressed that all the grass was gone.  You'd think that the humans didn't feed him or something, and we were going to leave him to forage through the tundra alone.  It was pretty cute.

"Maybe if I wish hard enough and long enough, it will go away"

Clinic update

I talked to my barn owner today, and apparently the kids were mistaken about the clinic.  She told them that she wouldn't take them to any QH shows unless they did this clinic because it was pointless unless they knew some of the training techniques he uses.  The clinic in January has only 6 spots, but apparently I have one of them.  From what I understand, she already told the clinician, Herb Best, that I was going to the clinic so I guess I'm doing it after all. :S  I can only imagine that having most of December off will make us great participants!  Apparently we ride twice a day for two days in this clinic, and we also have an hour of showmanship. I'm going to be exhausted!

I'm a little nervous especially because the clinic is only composed of 6 people.  Knowing what I do about the other participants, I will be the most beginner rider there.  Plus, I always get the impression that my barn owner thinks I'm a lot more of a beginner than I feel like I am (hey, maybe she's right - she sees riders all the time).  I'm afraid of what she might have told him about me.  I don't want to be worked like crazy, but I don't want to be patronized either.  I do know that she told him that Walker was a talented horse and that I was still "getting up to his level", whatever that's supposed to mean.  Walker is talented for sure, but that also means he isn't easy.  He doesn't just give up the goods for nothing!  I may not have the best form or be the most controlled, but I don't feel like an absolute beginner, that's for sure.  I don't know if I think well enough of my riding to call it an intermediate level, but hopefully an advanced beginner for sure.  I may be getting back into the swing of things (I had probably 10+ years off of riding after all), but I don't think an absolute beginner could sit through half of Walker's temper tantrums or be starting to jump (at least not at our barn - I know that some barns start jumping earlier).  What do you guys consider a beginner/advanced beginner/intermediate rider? I just hate to be patronized.  I sometimes feel like people are just patting me on the head and saying, "Oh look at Natalie.  Isn't she cute with her pony."  I work as hard as everyone else; I'm just never at the barn when people are around to watch me (other than lessons, which, if that's what people are basing their assessments off, would be fair considering our track record).

Other than that, Walker and I had a good ride today again.  We rode with another girl in the ring with us for awhile, and I find that when we're in close quarters like that, he gets a little forward.  This is fine with me as long as he pays attention.  After she left, he threw a mini temper tantrum because he wanted to go with her, but then he was great for me.  I even got him cantering at a decent speed, which I find much harder to accomplish in the indoor arena.  If only he would do that when I want to jump!  I was also proud of him because I got him going fast at a canter and then was able to slow him back down to a semi-slow lope.  Some speed control exercises are always good.


On a final note, here's a picture of Walker's poor chipping feet.  I feel so bad for him.  Let it snow so that the ground will not be so hard!  I would put shoes back on him, but my barn owner thinks that his feet will toughen up, especially since he's only had them off for about a month so far.  Apparently, the farrier has had that conversation with some of the other boarders at the barn, so I guess I will leave it for now, if that's what he thinks.  If they haven't improved by the time it snows/January, I'll put his shoes back on.  I'm sure that my barn owner is probably right.  We took his back shoes off when I first got him, and they used to chip like this.  Now, they aren't chipping at all.  I'm just such a sucker.

Back in the Saddle Again

"Let's get this over with then"

Finally made it to the barn today after my three (horrible) days off.  I got out there plenty early in the afternoon after passing in my paper and doing a few other chores so that I was able to have as long of a ride as I wanted.  Grabbed the pony from the paddock and gave him a nice relaxing brush.  He wasn't as dirty as I figured he would be.  However, I had a bad oops moment while grooming him.  Lately I've noticed that one of his back legs around the fetlock has got a lot of mud/dirt dried into the hair.  It's been driving me crazy, and I've been slowly and carefully cutting some of it off the way that you might cut a dog's matted fur.  Well, today I ended up cutting part of his "ergot" - the chestnut-like thing on his fetlock.  I only know this term because I freaked out when I realized what I had done, and went online to make sure that I wasn't going to kill him.  Apparently people actually do trim them (chestnuts too), so it's not as big of a deal as it could have been.  Next time I'll be a little more conscious about whether or not I'm cutting mud off my horse's leg or part of my horse's leg!

Today was mild enough so that I could ride in the outdoor arena, but I rode in the indoor anyway.  The foal was turned out in the outdoor, and I know that he has been cooped up for awhile because of the weather and because he was just recently gelded.  I knew that if I brought him in, he'd be in for the rest of the day since my trainer has started arriving around 3PM to do supper (yeah, early, I know).  There was a horse turned out in the indoor as well, but he has a huge stall and he's also like 30 years old - he doesn't do too much running!

His favorite part of the day: supper time.  We have that in common.

I was pretty happy with Walker today.  He had three days off and he was a little angel.  I didn't have to lunge him or get into any big arguments.  I even loped him with one hand for pretty much the first time successfully.  I rode him one-handed when I showed Western at the walk/jog, but I was also in novice (no lope).  I neck reined a couple of times in the outdoor arena when we were having issues and I thought he might enjoy it better, but it was never really that successful or controlled (mainly because those were the days when we got into massive arguments at the lope).  Today was the first time that I loped him with one hand that he actually paid attention, and it was very nice.  It's obvious that he prefers neck reining to two hands on the rein, and he definitely prefers as little contact as possible.  I've often noticed that using two hands and trying to wrench his head around is much less successful.  I suppose that's all in his training though.  I'm sure that I'm very entertaining to watch as I ride around in my English saddle on my Western pony while I post and neck rein.

Speaking of training, I'm proud to say that I taught Walker a trick.  Well, its not so much a trick, but I taught him how to do it all on my own.  I have taught him how to back up with me in the saddle and no hands on the reins by simply saying "back".  Yes, my horse now speaks English.  I always say "back" every time I'm on the ground backing him up or if I'm in the saddle using the reins, but a month or so ago, I was riding around the arena, no hands on the reins, practicing moving him around with just my legs when I halted him and asked him to back up.  He backed up at this point with no added aids, but I thought that he may have just associated the phrase with the action because we had done a lot of backing up that day (so he would have heard me say "back" a lot).  I left it and haven't really done much with it since (although I still say "back" every time I back him).  Today, at the end of my ride after not having backed him up once today (and not having seen him in three days), I just decided to try it out.  And back he went.  It's cool because he takes one step per every time I say "back".  So if I say "back back back", he backs up three steps.

I have to say, having a smart pony can be both a blessing and a curse!