Field Trip Recap

Wednesday had some low-lows (letting Star go), but it also had some high-highs in the form of perhaps my best ride to date on Miss Prairie.  Maybe such a fabulous ride was Star's parting gift (if mare's can communicate that way... pretty sure they can), or maybe Prairie just knew that I could use a pick me up.

Either way, it was a very productive ride, and for the first time in a while Prairie seemed very relaxed and happy in her work.

This is her third time working with this trainer (the first lesson I rode, last week S took P2 and then yesterday makes three...) which I think contributed to her increased relaxation, But I also think that hauling down with a gelding helped out too.

While S was tacking up and getting ready for her ride, I noticed that instead of screaming and looking for her trailer buddy, Prairie just munched on some hay, drank lots of water and snoozed in her borrowed stall.  While I think she is more at ease at this barn now, I don't think that explains it all.  S and I got to talking and nearly every time I've hauled Prairie it's been with a mare who she becomes fiercely attached to even in a 20 minute trip.  But the last two trips have been with a sweet gelding and the last two trips have seen less bellowing, searching and desperation to be reunited with her friend.

Maybe it's the hormone-less gelding? who knows... but it's an argument for a mare-ish supplement or perhaps even experimenting with Regumate again...

Regardless, I was grateful for the calm demeanor and excited to ride.  We started out just walking long and low around the ring before we picked up our trot and again worked on slowing the tempo while keeping the hind legs quick and underneath her.

Nancy then had me halt.  Get Prairie low and deep (and soft) in the bridle, and slooooowwwwlllyyyy  (key word there) back her up encouraging her spine to roll up and rise under my seat.

which it totally did.

Then, trying to keep the lifted back and low/deep/soft neck, we moved into a walk, and eventually back up to a trot.  Whenever Prairie started to brace (or I did), we returned to the halt and repeated the process.

It seemed to work wonders, and after a few short repetitions Prairie was soft, blowing and floppy eared.

One of the hard parts is keeping the rein-back slow.  Prairie wants to invert and shoot backwards like she's avoiding a punishment.  You can see the anxiety in her eyeball and she's a little wary.  So coaxing a slower, controlled rein-back is a little tricky, but it results in a nice stretch over her back and once she figured that out, the mare seemed to readily oblige.

Then we moved into some nice haunches in/shoulder in work that felt looser and nicer than our recent lateral attempts.  I was reminded constantly to keep Prairie as soft in the bridle as she is during that slow rein back.  If I can't get it with some easy suppling, then it's back to the halt/rein-back to dislodge the tension.

It certainly helps Prairie but I found it a really effective tool for me as well to ensure that I don't get rigid in my shoulder/elbow.  I really liked it.

Finally we moved into our canter work was was mind-blowingly-amazing.  You may recall our early canter work as resembling a runaway freight train plummeting down a hill.  So finding a nicely balanced, cadenced, contained canter is always exciting.

I worked on nice half halts during our suspension and also asking Prairie to contain her frame even during releases of contact and pets on the neck.  We kept the halt/rein-back move in between each canter depart and it was fairly magical.

Compare this screen shot from yesterday:

blurry but you can see the general shape.. kinda

 to this shot from our first show back in June:

ew.

I recognize the first shot is slightly earlier in the stride, but not by much.  Even with all the blur you can tell how much farther underneath her body Prairie's hind legs are and that her weight is farther back.  Also, I'm not dragging against her face with all my might like I was back in June.

Aside from keeping my arms loose and soft, I also lightened my seat a lot more than I'm used to.  My tendency is to always SIT down and really ride with me seat, which I don't think is helpful for Prairie's hammock of a back.  But it's a position I feel safe in, and like I can defend myself against scoots/inversions/etc.  However, unlike on P1 or other horses I've ridden, I think with Prairie I tend to drive her a bit hollow.  Even though my intention is the opposite.

Bah.  So I ended up thinking about putting 50% more weight in my stirrups and quieting my hips.  I doubt I shifted more then 10lbs into my stirrups and I still sit pretty deep but I think it changes my mentality.  Whatever it was, it was working yesterday so I'm looking forward to playing with it some more.

Here's a quick video of the same canter about halfway through our lesson.  I dare say we got even a bit lighter and more collected in our later work, but that video is like 5 minutes and I don't feel like sifting through it all :)



It was a great lesson.  Prairie felt so relaxed, happy and content.  She worked happily and her trot and canter were beyond words.  She was 100% between my aids and focused on me.

Here's hoping we can replicate some of the magic back at home... 

A Goodbye.

The Matriarch.

Goodbyes. They're inevitable. 

With love, comes the possibility of loss and with our animals(/teachers/supporters/friends/confidants), it's almost a certainty.

I've been extraordinarily lucky with all of my animals.  I've only ever lost one dog (he was ancient and perfect and ready to go) and a few cats (some to age, one to cancer and a couple presumably to coyotes).  

I've never lost a horse. 

I've sold horses, and I've lost track of horses who I spent years with.  I suppose some of them have probably long since gone onto greener pastures, but not knowing is different than knowing, and yesterday I had the new experience of knowing that my dear, sweet (sorta mean), wise old pony was indeed ready to go. 

In her grand old age of forty-something, her body finally betrayed her age and after suffering from a few seizures, yesterday she had a bad choke.

Nothing was able to clear it, leaving surgery as the only option. 
A surgery that she probably wouldn't survive, and even if she did - what for?

So, one of my oldest and best-friends made the call.  She let me know what was going on, and since I was still hauling Prairie back up from our lesson, there was no feasible way for me to get to the pony without delaying her relief - something I couldn't even begin to ask of her.

Star hasn't been part of my daily riding life since I was 14.  But she's always been a part of who I am as a Rider, an Owner and a Person.  Some of my best moments and biggest achievements were on that pony.  She was the first horse I stayed up with all night during a colic.  The first horse I ever gave a bath to or braided for a schooling show.  She was the first horse I fell off and the first horse I qualified for nationals on.  She taught me pretty much everything I know about not getting bit, or kicked, or scraped off on a tree on the trail.

She professionally refused to acknowledge any previous training and taught me to teach her.  I'll never forget the first Prelim cross country fence I took (or rather, she took me over) and I'll certainly never forget my first Musical Freestyle.  More importantly, she was that perfect friend and supporter through adolescence and gave me the unconditional affection that every 12 year old girl needs from somewhere.

One of my favorite memories was one night after a fight with my parents (presumably about making my bed or math or something equally epic) and I decided that I was running away. I thoughtfully packed a backpack of snacks and books (I was really going to be prepared), but then after slipping out my window and making my way to the barn I realized books weren't as important as grain for my pony, so I dumped out my backpack, filled it with Star's grain and then legged up and trotted away bareback. 

I'm pretty sure I was only gone for a few hours, but for those few hours I had my pony, some granola bars and enough grain to keep Star motivated for a couple of days.  It was all a 13 year old really needs. 

So I'll miss her.  Even though I wasn't the one making her mashes every morning or bringing her in from her pasture every night, I'll miss knowing that my old, cranky pony was tootling around enjoying her retirement.  And I'll miss the occasional text with a picture of her doing something absurd. 

But I'm glad that the last time I saw her she was trotting around a giant field and scratching her rump on a pile of lumber. 

And I take (almost) total comfort in the fact that she was a strong, healthy, happy pony for the last 20 years of her life that I had the pleasure of knowing her. 

So Star - I thank you for all of it (even the hard parts) and I'll never forget you.

One of my first rides on the lady.

and one of my last visits to see her.

A few more details on the pony are here and here

We're back, we're back....

Whoops another week went by... Sneaky how that happens!

The mares are good.  If you had asked on Sunday, I would have told you that both of them were for sale - but today they are both back in good graces and I'm sure that none of it had to do with holiday exhaustion or PMS.

(not actually for sale anymore,)

But onward. 

I've been at a bit of a loss as to what to do with Miss P.  She's clearly ready to work, and even I'm bored walking around the property - but our basics are not there.  She's re-learned how to run away from people (everyone).  She's darted off while being led with me, S, and even the guys who work at the barn.

Naughty girl.

That sort of crap makes me think we have a lot of groundwork to solidify, but Vet Lady said to get her moving and back to work, so we're doing that.  Sunday I started by working on some liberty/join up stuff that resulted in nothing productive.  Whenever I moved P off or away from me she turned, shot her feet at my head and snarled.

I tried to stand my ground and stay "alpha" but there's no denying that I got defensive and protective and she had the upper hand in maneuvering.  Very frustrating.

Finally, totally against Cowboy Man's philosophy I gave up, used a halter and started running her through a jumping chute.  I know I should have worked free until she joined up.. but like I said, I was PMSing, the mare was bitchy, and I got bored of failed attempts. 

Frankly Pia seemed as relived for a change of exercise as I did.  P also looked pretty darn cute.  The line was simple, a small X bounce to a bigger X, one stride to a vertical.  We bumped them up once but didn't take anything over 3'.  After 10 repetitions one way, we swapped the direction and repeated.  Pia seemed interested, engaged and comfortable going through the whole thing.

She's definitely much better at sitting back and using her body than she was in Spring of 2011, which is helpful.  It's nice to know that the $$$ spent on bodywork got us somewhere....

After playing in the line, I decided it was time to tack up the mare and go for a walk.  I was nervous from the aggressive groundwork though so I politely requested that S take the first few laps, which she graciously did before I legged up myself.

Tacked up with her cute new pink/purple rope halter...

P seemed totally content under saddle.  No nervous head twitches, no chest biting, no anxiety.  I walked the mare around for a good 10-15 minutes.and she was alert, but loose, head swinging and calm.  I tested my brakes (reins attached to halter) and my steering with no bad results.  But since she had worked well over the jumps I kept everything at a walk and called it a day.

Always nice to end with some success.

its a happy P!

After I put Pia away I grabbed Prairie who was about as cooperative as Pia had been on the ground (that is to say, not at all).

We also worked through a small grid, but the big mare was Loony Tunes and after a series of increasingly tense/rushed passes through, she scooted off like a rocket and began bucking around like a moron.  Not like she was trying to get me off per se, but like a predator was attempting to gnaw on her hind leg or perhaps pulling on her tail.

I hopped off and found absolutely no explanation so I got back on and we proceeded to finish on a slightly improved note.

Not a good day at the barn.  Totally frustrating and discouraging and obnoxious.

Fortunately, my morning out there today was better.

Pia lunged politely in the outdoor and rocked her leading exercises and Prairie decided that maybe (JUST MAYBE) she could actually jump a small grid without loosing herself in a rage blackout. 

Tomorrow S has Pia and I take Prairie back down south for another lesson with Nancy Free.

Field Trips help all things :)

all better :)

Radio Silence

Sorry for the off-air interruption.  I've been swarmed with our annual exec retreat, out of state depositions and.. oh yeah, an extra horse at home :)  I guess that explains my lack of online mutterings.

But never fear, the girls are well.  Both of them have been enjoying their new routine (I think) and P1 is settling in fabulously.

Here's a succinct synopsis of what we've been doing.

P1 is proudly and confidently enjoying her walks around the property.  She's officially calm enough to eat grass while exploring.

P2 got to go for a ride in a Happy Mouth mullen pelham.  She seemed to enjoy it.  (2 reins, not a joiner)

In the pelham - P2 had two days in a row with 2 perfect flying changes per lead.  in a row.  No mess ups.

P1 got to do some liberty work in the indoor.

I got to try P2 in the pelham and loved her canter work, but feel like the leverage might back her off too much.  I tried loosening my curb rein a ton but she was still a bit explosive. 

P1 got to eat snacks in the wash rack and work on her ground tying.

Both P's got a tail wash and plenty of apples courtesy of Supermom.

Oh yeah.  and S dug through the depths/archives of her parents' tack room and pulled out this gem:

I think P has her Halloween costume picked out for next year....

BAHAHAHAHA.  Poor Mare.  I think she misses Summer Camp