Hey there, all!
I'm home now, yay! I arrived home late on the afternoon of the 20th, and since, have pretty much hit the ground running in my own personal journey (not so much elsewhere, unfortunately, which I'm trying to change). Florida was definitely a learning experience in more ways than one, and so mentally, I've been wild and crazy since before returning home. I apologize to any of you who have been following me on Facebook/twitter, and have been worried, I promise it wasn't as bad as an experience as it apparently came across!
On the equine front, my ponies were actually thrilled for my homecoming, it's been one of the best in that pasture so far. The day after I got home, I went out and called like I usually do, and 3 heads popped up, and all 3 of my riding horses upped and left the feeders, two of the three nickering as they came. Love my little herd :D
Unfortunately, I haven't had a whole lot of time to play with my guys since being home. I've had one short session just with Prin, and then I had a double session on Prin, with Hart, which was day before yesterday. I'm not entirely sure why I hadn't thought of this before, but Hart likes to play the "I'm really tall, you can't reach me!" card, and I had been struggling with refining all things forehand with him--even with the Carrot Stick, he's just tall enough that my phases cannot be totally fair to him. So duh--put myself on my 16.1hh partner, and we most likely can communicate with the tall one! It was a really fun session, I LOVE having Prin as my assistant--she's very good at backing up my phases and being in the proper position even when I'm not, sometimes ;) We got quite a bit accomplished, too. Prin was successful in teaching Hart the sideways game to the right (something he and I have struggled with a bit because of his height), and we also got some really nice stick-to-me stuff going. Very cool!
Other than that, our herd has been reduced a bit--two of our horses left for new homes, which is sad, but also a Godsend, since our corrals were getting pretty crowded. We're down to 12 now, which is a pretty good number for the space we've got.
So that's the update--I think I'm going to try to get back to a regular schedule of blogging, even if the sessions are short. It benefits me to organize my thoughts after each session, and I've gotten a few "hey, would you start sharing about your sessions again?" types of inquiries. So there we have it.
I'll try to get back into it!
Off to go play with a wet horse.
Photo by Margaret Chant and edited by Jessica Metropulos
Showing posts with label Hart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hart. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Learning How to Bend
I've been waiting forever to use that as my blog title! It's a great song by Gary Allen that I totally love, but the moment never seemed appropriate...anyway, today it seemed to be the theme! I had two awesome sessions with two awesome horses, both focused in some way on flexibility and bending.
First, I played with Prin. She's a bit out of shape from lack of attention, so a few times a week, I'm going to try to start taking her out for long trots, much like I did last fall, except this time she's in better condition to handle it, and will benefit from it more. Anyway, I digress.
Today, our focus was on finesse, specifically in bringing the shoulders up. Prin, being a stock horse, built essentially level and made for getting INTO the ground quickly, is not naturally made to come up in the front end and be flexible throughout her shoulders and rib-cage. Using an exaggerated suspension rein as my active rein, and a solid fixed rein, as well as the shoulder-in maneuver, Prin learned VERY quickly (I was actually very impressed at how much effort she put into learning this, today!) how to move in a much more tall, elevated posture. It felt lovely to ride, I'm impressed at how quickly she's picking up on it!
We also played with all manner of trot. I would bring it down to a slow little collected thing that was starting to get some elevation to it (baby-steps to passage perhaps?), and then we'd bust out of it into as big a working trot as she'd offer on a concentrated rein. Very cool stuff, she's really starting to USE herself through her transitions nicely.
To aid the process of developing finesse, I've been playing with my own riding posture, as well. In my last lesson with Kristi, she told me fluidity was beautiful, but in order to advance to where I want to go in Level 4/5 finesse stuff, I was going to need to do a few things:
A)Open my hip angle, engage my own HQ, and really stretch my legs DOWN (Prin, being an LBI, will use it as an excuse not to move out if I don't)
B)Lengthen my stirrups a hole or two to aid that
C) Develop a more side-to-side flow in my sitting trot.
I've been playing with all of that, but mostly really focusing on lengthening my leg and engaging my OWN body for finesse. Long legs are definitely NOT what I'm known for, so that's been an adventure, but it's REALLY come along nicely now, and the more flexibility I gain, the more I realize it affects my horse! Great journey, and definitely learning how to bend!!
After finishing up my session with Prin, I took Hart out to play. He's been pretty much put on the back burner since I've owned him, which I feel awful for, but fortunately now, (going into winter, ew) I've got the time to spend on him. As of right now, he's just thin, and horrifically out of shape. Everything will come at once with him I think--both being more proactively used (as opposed to lounging around the pasture), coupled with more...caloric...feeding (my poor holistic care friends would be horrified at the CRAP I'm pouring into this horse to get weight on him!), will help him get back on track.
So today, we started out just trying to work the kinks out. He's a very one-sided horse. Years of being ridden to the left has done a number on his right side, and he has a noticeable strength problem with his right side. He's very inflexible throughout his ribs, has trouble picking up his right lead, and carries and almost constant brace in his neck going to the right.
Rule #1 when playing with a horse as lopsided as this: Slow and right beats fast and wrong, and slow and right BUILDS fast and right. Hart needs a lot of focus on flexibility throughout his right side, and so I chose to use small, but slow walk circles to build this. Cue the bracy, upside-down movement. Ew! Is that the gorgeous English sport horse I bought? Really?
Rule #2: Never release on a brace. Though it's hard to watch and horrible to consider, the easiest way to discourage this kind of movement is to hold the rope firmly (his nose is tilted to the outside, zone 3 closest to me at this point) until the horse makes an offer at correct movement, and then to release, LIGHTNING fast. That way, he finds comfort in correctness. It didn't take me more than 3 repeats of this before Hart's head came down, he licked his lips, and he switched his bend on the circle, and maintained it.
Next, I pulled out some ground poles and set them up.
Horse's Responsibility #4: Watch where you're going! Oh my...this horse doesn't know where his feet are! I set the poles out in a cavalletti pattern, and sent him through at a walk. Clunk, clack, clunk, CRASH. Hmm...how interesting! I continued this pattern, and he did get progressively better--I stopped when he made it through without knocking any poles out of position.
Finally, I taught Hart the figure 8 pattern. Again with the whole "slow and right beats fast and wrong", except this time, I had created my own impulsive behavior. Often, once a horse finds comfort/a new way of moving, they'll beg for more--Hart had found it in walk and trot, and all he wanted to do was trot! I had to interrupt the pattern rather vigorously a couple of times, but he finally found himself. At that point, I guided him through the pattern, and he got this wise-ass look on his face. He totally understood it, and dang it, he was GOING to trot before we were done! We ended by trotting the pattern twice, and then circling 3 gorgeous circles to the right on the 22' line. I put him back, and he stood there rather regally for several minutes, regarding me with mild interest, licking and chewing, before heading back to his hay. He's such an interesting horse. Definitely a LBI at heart. Very great lessons for both of us!
Anyway, it's bedtime for me, I have lessons tomorrow at 9:30 am! Feedback on the post is always appreciated. Thanks folks!
Savvy on!
First, I played with Prin. She's a bit out of shape from lack of attention, so a few times a week, I'm going to try to start taking her out for long trots, much like I did last fall, except this time she's in better condition to handle it, and will benefit from it more. Anyway, I digress.
Today, our focus was on finesse, specifically in bringing the shoulders up. Prin, being a stock horse, built essentially level and made for getting INTO the ground quickly, is not naturally made to come up in the front end and be flexible throughout her shoulders and rib-cage. Using an exaggerated suspension rein as my active rein, and a solid fixed rein, as well as the shoulder-in maneuver, Prin learned VERY quickly (I was actually very impressed at how much effort she put into learning this, today!) how to move in a much more tall, elevated posture. It felt lovely to ride, I'm impressed at how quickly she's picking up on it!
We also played with all manner of trot. I would bring it down to a slow little collected thing that was starting to get some elevation to it (baby-steps to passage perhaps?), and then we'd bust out of it into as big a working trot as she'd offer on a concentrated rein. Very cool stuff, she's really starting to USE herself through her transitions nicely.
To aid the process of developing finesse, I've been playing with my own riding posture, as well. In my last lesson with Kristi, she told me fluidity was beautiful, but in order to advance to where I want to go in Level 4/5 finesse stuff, I was going to need to do a few things:
A)Open my hip angle, engage my own HQ, and really stretch my legs DOWN (Prin, being an LBI, will use it as an excuse not to move out if I don't)
B)Lengthen my stirrups a hole or two to aid that
C) Develop a more side-to-side flow in my sitting trot.
I've been playing with all of that, but mostly really focusing on lengthening my leg and engaging my OWN body for finesse. Long legs are definitely NOT what I'm known for, so that's been an adventure, but it's REALLY come along nicely now, and the more flexibility I gain, the more I realize it affects my horse! Great journey, and definitely learning how to bend!!
After finishing up my session with Prin, I took Hart out to play. He's been pretty much put on the back burner since I've owned him, which I feel awful for, but fortunately now, (going into winter, ew) I've got the time to spend on him. As of right now, he's just thin, and horrifically out of shape. Everything will come at once with him I think--both being more proactively used (as opposed to lounging around the pasture), coupled with more...caloric...feeding (my poor holistic care friends would be horrified at the CRAP I'm pouring into this horse to get weight on him!), will help him get back on track.
So today, we started out just trying to work the kinks out. He's a very one-sided horse. Years of being ridden to the left has done a number on his right side, and he has a noticeable strength problem with his right side. He's very inflexible throughout his ribs, has trouble picking up his right lead, and carries and almost constant brace in his neck going to the right.
Rule #1 when playing with a horse as lopsided as this: Slow and right beats fast and wrong, and slow and right BUILDS fast and right. Hart needs a lot of focus on flexibility throughout his right side, and so I chose to use small, but slow walk circles to build this. Cue the bracy, upside-down movement. Ew! Is that the gorgeous English sport horse I bought? Really?
Rule #2: Never release on a brace. Though it's hard to watch and horrible to consider, the easiest way to discourage this kind of movement is to hold the rope firmly (his nose is tilted to the outside, zone 3 closest to me at this point) until the horse makes an offer at correct movement, and then to release, LIGHTNING fast. That way, he finds comfort in correctness. It didn't take me more than 3 repeats of this before Hart's head came down, he licked his lips, and he switched his bend on the circle, and maintained it.
Next, I pulled out some ground poles and set them up.
Horse's Responsibility #4: Watch where you're going! Oh my...this horse doesn't know where his feet are! I set the poles out in a cavalletti pattern, and sent him through at a walk. Clunk, clack, clunk, CRASH. Hmm...how interesting! I continued this pattern, and he did get progressively better--I stopped when he made it through without knocking any poles out of position.
Finally, I taught Hart the figure 8 pattern. Again with the whole "slow and right beats fast and wrong", except this time, I had created my own impulsive behavior. Often, once a horse finds comfort/a new way of moving, they'll beg for more--Hart had found it in walk and trot, and all he wanted to do was trot! I had to interrupt the pattern rather vigorously a couple of times, but he finally found himself. At that point, I guided him through the pattern, and he got this wise-ass look on his face. He totally understood it, and dang it, he was GOING to trot before we were done! We ended by trotting the pattern twice, and then circling 3 gorgeous circles to the right on the 22' line. I put him back, and he stood there rather regally for several minutes, regarding me with mild interest, licking and chewing, before heading back to his hay. He's such an interesting horse. Definitely a LBI at heart. Very great lessons for both of us!
Anyway, it's bedtime for me, I have lessons tomorrow at 9:30 am! Feedback on the post is always appreciated. Thanks folks!
Savvy on!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Parellifying the Beast
I think the one of the most commonly asked questions I've gotten in recent times here has been "Hey, how's Hart?". Remember him? The big Gray Thoroughbred that I bought, and have since not mentioned at all? Well, for those of you who've been wondering, he's still around, and is now doing well. He got kicked in the hock after being here for 3 days, and he was lame for almost 6 weeks off and on, hence my lack of update, there really wasn't much to say. But now we're pretty much out of the woods with his leg, and now we're back to the plan.
So. Parellifying the beast...exactly what the blog title implies, Hart and I are FINALLY getting a chance to play together. He's a hoot, he knows he's magnificent, he moves beautifully, but beyond that, doesn't have a clue as to what to do with himself. I think he's pretty much lived in a field and not been told to do much all his life. So today was our first "official" lesson, though I'd taught him the motions of the 7 games the day I got him. It was a humorous experience tonight, he was very dramatic and prancy. We played with friendly game and porcupine game, and building positive reflexes. He was totally horrified that i wanted to throw my savvy string over his back, but once he got confident, fell asleep with his nose practically on the ground. Silly horse. His porcupine game was heavy, but it didn't take much before he understood what needed to be done. After we found a flow, I hopped on and we played with some transitions and lateral flexion. He's just such a dream to ride, it's like riding a cloud...albeit a cloud with a massive trot.
I'll keep you all posted as I continue to progress with him. I"m so thankful he's sound again, now we can focus on beefing him up and getting his mind stimulated ;)
Savvy on!
PS--had another great ride out on Sunny--we cantered at least 100 feet more than once, she's so brilliant! Carrot stick riding and transitions are getting super smooth too! She also stood tied for 30 minutes while I played with Hart. So proud of her!
So. Parellifying the beast...exactly what the blog title implies, Hart and I are FINALLY getting a chance to play together. He's a hoot, he knows he's magnificent, he moves beautifully, but beyond that, doesn't have a clue as to what to do with himself. I think he's pretty much lived in a field and not been told to do much all his life. So today was our first "official" lesson, though I'd taught him the motions of the 7 games the day I got him. It was a humorous experience tonight, he was very dramatic and prancy. We played with friendly game and porcupine game, and building positive reflexes. He was totally horrified that i wanted to throw my savvy string over his back, but once he got confident, fell asleep with his nose practically on the ground. Silly horse. His porcupine game was heavy, but it didn't take much before he understood what needed to be done. After we found a flow, I hopped on and we played with some transitions and lateral flexion. He's just such a dream to ride, it's like riding a cloud...albeit a cloud with a massive trot.
I'll keep you all posted as I continue to progress with him. I"m so thankful he's sound again, now we can focus on beefing him up and getting his mind stimulated ;)
Savvy on!
PS--had another great ride out on Sunny--we cantered at least 100 feet more than once, she's so brilliant! Carrot stick riding and transitions are getting super smooth too! She also stood tied for 30 minutes while I played with Hart. So proud of her!
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