On Sunday, I had planned for a long ride. DJ was supposed to meet up with me so I could show her around the property. I finished up at work, came home for lunch, and left for the barn at quarter to 1. DJ had to work late :( Oh well, I would just start riding without her, do loops of the field and keep checking in at the barn to see if she arrived.
I spent some time in the plateau working on picking up that canter lead that has been so elusive recently. Let me tell you, it took forever! Eventually, I did something I wouldn't usually do. I let him do the left lead like he prefers, and then asked for the lead change during the canter. What would you know? It worked! Of course, I would have a horse who cant get simple lead changes, but easily gets auto lead changes.
The next time we were down in the plateau, I was working on our trot, as he was getting very L shaped instead of C shaped on our circles. Usually the result of cantering and then trying to trot again. I also know I have a tendency to bring my right shoulder forward only when on that lead and when he himself is getting crooked (making it impossible for me to fix!). I tried to make a conscious effort to use more leg and not curve my shoulder in and down. It was really hard! I remembered what was said in the clinic I watched at the Royal on Friday, to keep my weight in the outside. I made the weight shifts obvious, perhaps more than necessary but it helps to make me get into the habit more naturally. Immediately I noticed a difference, none of the straight neck "slow bolting" I had before, and our circles became round instead of angular. I practiced this doing figure 8s and was wonderful.
At the clinic, I remember Waylon saying something along the lines of "keep asking the right questions, the young horse will make several mistakes, all different, but if you keep asking the right question in the same way, he will figure it out eventually" I think this also works for the rider, and Bentley must know this as hes training me. Was he at that clinic too? Clearly Bentley has been presenting me with challenges to improve my crunching to the side. It has always been the same question, I have tried numerous things to figure it out, and I finally got it! He stayed the same the whole time, allowing me to figure out the problem. Damn smart horse!
I didn't ask for canter at any point after that, our ride had been long and strenuous enough and he clearly needed a long walk. I suspect my weight balance will help with the canter transitions too.\
But why am I having problems now?
I think I can answer that. I think I am still very tight to the one side from my injury. It may not be something I can always feel, but its there and its affecting my posture. The tightness on my left side is forcing my right shoulder in and forward, and my whole body twisting. Now that I have noticed it, it seems like such a huge difference in my position, I cant believe I never noticed it before! Hence why we have had this problem ever since my fall. Whats my solution? I have massage booked again, and I am starting yoga tonight. Lets hope that fixes me up!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Saturday's ride
I wasn't too sure if I was going to ride on Saturday. To be honest I was still hurting from my stirrupless ride on Wednesday. Yes, I take what I said before back. I hurt and bad! Somehow Thursday was fine, Friday started aching a bit, and Saturday was brutal. Work seemed to last double its usual duration because the pain was all I could think about.
After an intense nap on my lunch break, I felt a bit better and decided to go for it. It seemed to hurt more when I pushed my hips forward like walking or stretching, not when I would keep it at riding angle. So it made sense to catch a ride after work.
Since I had been at the Royal the night before, we missed what I had scheduled in to be a jump day. I was going to just let it be missed, and do a hack instead (Saturday was supposed to be hour walk), but as we came down to the plateau, he perked up and trotted right at the nice inviting log jump. Ok, Bentley wants to jump, we can make it the jump day!
We went over the log a few times, approaching it from both directions at the trot and canter. Then we started doing it more at an angle along a circle. This was building up to the exercise I was planning on doing where you have one jump as the centre of your figure 8 and just go over and over. Its supposed to supple them and also help with steering.
We made our way back to the ring, and did the figure 8 exercise at the trot, starting with large circles and gradually making them smaller over a small crossrail. No cantering of course, we aren't yet happy enough with getting that lead so I wasn't going to start confusing him by switching constantly AND throwing a jump in there!
Once that was done pretty well, I added a second jump as a bounce after the crossrail. Of course, we don't do that on a circle, just as a grid. This was Bentley's first time doing a bounce. We approached at the trot, but didn't have nearly enough impulsion to make a bounce jump, he just took them as raised trot poles. Next time, I pushed him more and he broke into the canter stride, but made it very awkward going through as he clearly thought "why do you want me to jump such tiny things?" Ok, I got the picture. I raised the 2nd crossrail to a vertical and approached at the canter. He made it through but it wasn't pretty, weird hopping and foot placement instead of the jump land jump. A few more awkward tries, and I had to push him on more. But then, like magic, he got it! He was so pleased with himself, he always knows when he figures something out, even before I have the chance to reach down and congratulate him. A few more pops over it, and we were good!
It was nearing dark at that point, Tera asked if we wanted the light on, and to her surprise I said "No I want to ride in the dark" I scooted into the now empty indoor arena to do the jump exercise set up there first. It was a jump, canter ground pole, then a jump. Both were verticals about 18" or 2' Enough to make him maybe try, but nothing too scary to take away from the exercise. I think the poles were set at pony length, because his strides felt very short going through it. The first time, he refused the last jump, again, I don't think we had enough impulsion. The second time and third time through were perfect!
I raised the middle pole to be a jump, so it was a line of 3 jumps set at one collected stride. Somehow, he went perfectly over it the first time. He felt very good being collected, but we still had that impulsion to get over. No laziness there! Very happy with him! He also went perfect the second time over too!
More to be happy about was after all that jumping, we decided to cool out by going for a walk in the field, IN THE DARK! He was very well behaved. No spooking at all. He was looking all around, but no troubles, just walked a little slower and more cautiously than usual.
After an intense nap on my lunch break, I felt a bit better and decided to go for it. It seemed to hurt more when I pushed my hips forward like walking or stretching, not when I would keep it at riding angle. So it made sense to catch a ride after work.
Since I had been at the Royal the night before, we missed what I had scheduled in to be a jump day. I was going to just let it be missed, and do a hack instead (Saturday was supposed to be hour walk), but as we came down to the plateau, he perked up and trotted right at the nice inviting log jump. Ok, Bentley wants to jump, we can make it the jump day!
We went over the log a few times, approaching it from both directions at the trot and canter. Then we started doing it more at an angle along a circle. This was building up to the exercise I was planning on doing where you have one jump as the centre of your figure 8 and just go over and over. Its supposed to supple them and also help with steering.
We made our way back to the ring, and did the figure 8 exercise at the trot, starting with large circles and gradually making them smaller over a small crossrail. No cantering of course, we aren't yet happy enough with getting that lead so I wasn't going to start confusing him by switching constantly AND throwing a jump in there!
Once that was done pretty well, I added a second jump as a bounce after the crossrail. Of course, we don't do that on a circle, just as a grid. This was Bentley's first time doing a bounce. We approached at the trot, but didn't have nearly enough impulsion to make a bounce jump, he just took them as raised trot poles. Next time, I pushed him more and he broke into the canter stride, but made it very awkward going through as he clearly thought "why do you want me to jump such tiny things?" Ok, I got the picture. I raised the 2nd crossrail to a vertical and approached at the canter. He made it through but it wasn't pretty, weird hopping and foot placement instead of the jump land jump. A few more awkward tries, and I had to push him on more. But then, like magic, he got it! He was so pleased with himself, he always knows when he figures something out, even before I have the chance to reach down and congratulate him. A few more pops over it, and we were good!
It was nearing dark at that point, Tera asked if we wanted the light on, and to her surprise I said "No I want to ride in the dark" I scooted into the now empty indoor arena to do the jump exercise set up there first. It was a jump, canter ground pole, then a jump. Both were verticals about 18" or 2' Enough to make him maybe try, but nothing too scary to take away from the exercise. I think the poles were set at pony length, because his strides felt very short going through it. The first time, he refused the last jump, again, I don't think we had enough impulsion. The second time and third time through were perfect!
I raised the middle pole to be a jump, so it was a line of 3 jumps set at one collected stride. Somehow, he went perfectly over it the first time. He felt very good being collected, but we still had that impulsion to get over. No laziness there! Very happy with him! He also went perfect the second time over too!
More to be happy about was after all that jumping, we decided to cool out by going for a walk in the field, IN THE DARK! He was very well behaved. No spooking at all. He was looking all around, but no troubles, just walked a little slower and more cautiously than usual.
I Made it!
Yes, I did make it to the Royal!
I was permitted a half day on Friday and zipped over there as soon as I could. Adriana and DJ told me after I posted my initial blog that Sable had gone lame and wouldn't be at the royal. I messaged Linda, and got a mysterious response that they ARE at the royal.
Once I got there, I found that Sable was lame, and she had gone anyway and took advantage of a Reiki session. I wish I could have watched it, but I was immediately snapped up by Solstice, who had arrived 20 minutes before me, and was walking Angel around when I got there (they were Sable's replacement). Together, Solstice and I got Angel all prettied up and braided nicely. By the time we were done, the Reiki was over and Sable was getting ready to go home. I will have to remember to touch base with Linda and see how she is doing. I did see Sable in the field yesterday and she was trotting around looking lame, but not terrible.
Solstice went on for her first ride at 2:30. I had the pleasure of setting up the poles and jump for her, and although she was nervous, she did a wonderful job! Same went for the next 2 performances of the night. People really loved watching her, particularly because of her size and cuteness (both of them!) She got lots of questions despite a pretty small audience, the Friday is never as busy as the weekend. That's ok, its a good warmup!
In between, I was able to get some shopping done and sat down at the Spirit of the Horse to watch the Waylon Roberts clinic. One thing he really stressed was riding with leg all the way to the jump. Prepare your rhythm beforehand and if you keep your rhythm, you will be successful, don't back off before the jump in attempts to change things. I think that really helps the horses confidence. Also he stressed putting your weight to the outside around corners to balance the horse, something that came to help me on Sunday.
After that, Linda had returned just before Solstice's last performance and had brought her friend Lynne. We went to the petting zoo. I found a cow that I loved and wanted to bring home. She was so sweet and soft!
Solstice somehow convinced me to try milking the fake cow. Guess I will need this skill when I bring home the automatic lawn mower / cheese maker pictured above.
I was permitted a half day on Friday and zipped over there as soon as I could. Adriana and DJ told me after I posted my initial blog that Sable had gone lame and wouldn't be at the royal. I messaged Linda, and got a mysterious response that they ARE at the royal. Once I got there, I found that Sable was lame, and she had gone anyway and took advantage of a Reiki session. I wish I could have watched it, but I was immediately snapped up by Solstice, who had arrived 20 minutes before me, and was walking Angel around when I got there (they were Sable's replacement). Together, Solstice and I got Angel all prettied up and braided nicely. By the time we were done, the Reiki was over and Sable was getting ready to go home. I will have to remember to touch base with Linda and see how she is doing. I did see Sable in the field yesterday and she was trotting around looking lame, but not terrible.
Solstice went on for her first ride at 2:30. I had the pleasure of setting up the poles and jump for her, and although she was nervous, she did a wonderful job! Same went for the next 2 performances of the night. People really loved watching her, particularly because of her size and cuteness (both of them!) She got lots of questions despite a pretty small audience, the Friday is never as busy as the weekend. That's ok, its a good warmup!In between, I was able to get some shopping done and sat down at the Spirit of the Horse to watch the Waylon Roberts clinic. One thing he really stressed was riding with leg all the way to the jump. Prepare your rhythm beforehand and if you keep your rhythm, you will be successful, don't back off before the jump in attempts to change things. I think that really helps the horses confidence. Also he stressed putting your weight to the outside around corners to balance the horse, something that came to help me on Sunday.
After that, Linda had returned just before Solstice's last performance and had brought her friend Lynne. We went to the petting zoo. I found a cow that I loved and wanted to bring home. She was so sweet and soft!
Solstice somehow convinced me to try milking the fake cow. Guess I will need this skill when I bring home the automatic lawn mower / cheese maker pictured above.
Of course, no trip is complete without going to the horse barn and seeing what was hanging out! We caught a couple of draft teams getting ready for a performance, I am guessing it was just a demonstration, not a competition as there was just one of each: Belgian, Percheron, and Clyde (my favourite because of their funky coats!)
Then we watched the warmups for indoor eventing. Linda found it funny that Waylon Roberts kissed his horse on the nose before going out. Apparently most men don't do that. I think most of them just do it in the stall when nobody is looking, too ashamed of their horsey love perhaps? Below is who I THINK is Jessica Phoenix, our only eventer to complete the Olympics (and do very well too!), who came over to take a good look at Solstice (who had snuck my phone away to take photos), unfortunately the pics didn't come in too clear. From my memory and comparing photos taken of the competition, i am 95% sure. Very cool to see!
Dogs are nothing but trouble!
Working this weekend was pretty good... with the exception of the dogs!
Saturday, they just happened to always be in the way. They were scaring horses in the wash stalls, leaving muddy footprints on the clean tack room floor, spreading the cat's food dishes throughout the barn and constantly in the way of my wheelbarrow. It was a disaster.
The disaster came again on Sunday. I turned my back for only a few minutes to check on the bunnies (one had escaped and got a bloody nose from digging in the gravel) and when I came back, Winnie had eaten the ENTIRE bag of cat food. Zoey may have assisted, but knowing her, she usually just tags along and watches while Winnie gets into trouble.
Here they are looking very guilty:
When I came back in the afternoon Sunday, I found out that Winnie also ate the entire potato salad from a kid's birthday party going on that day. Nice Winnie, Nice.
The more I hang out with dogs, the more I am glad with my decision to stick with cats, rabbits and horses.
Saturday, they just happened to always be in the way. They were scaring horses in the wash stalls, leaving muddy footprints on the clean tack room floor, spreading the cat's food dishes throughout the barn and constantly in the way of my wheelbarrow. It was a disaster.
The disaster came again on Sunday. I turned my back for only a few minutes to check on the bunnies (one had escaped and got a bloody nose from digging in the gravel) and when I came back, Winnie had eaten the ENTIRE bag of cat food. Zoey may have assisted, but knowing her, she usually just tags along and watches while Winnie gets into trouble.
Here they are looking very guilty:
When I came back in the afternoon Sunday, I found out that Winnie also ate the entire potato salad from a kid's birthday party going on that day. Nice Winnie, Nice.
The more I hang out with dogs, the more I am glad with my decision to stick with cats, rabbits and horses.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Royal Starts Today!
Probably the only light in the dreary weather this time of year for most of us horse people, is going to the Royal.
Today Linda is off with Sable to ride in the Spirit of the Horse demonstrations (presented by the OEF) to promote the AHA and OCTRA.
This is the second year that she has had this opportunity, and also the second year I will sadly be missing it. Of course it falls on the one day where I have absolutely no chance of getting off work (when the boss is gone, I must stay here to man the battleship!). Last year was my fault however, I had lost my personal phone sometime in October and had since been using only my work blackberry, and hadn't given Linda my new number, so all the calls and texts remained unseen until it was all over. Of course, I found my phone half a year later in the pocket of a jacket. Figures!
I am very sad to be missing out on this, especially with all the crewing I have done for them this year and the 2 RNTs we did with Sable, its harder to miss as we became even more of a team than ever before. Just doesn't feel right my team is missing their top crew!
However, it is nice to not be surrounded by all that temptation. I am not in a position to do a lot of shopping this year (however I am seeing all the Bahr's sales on their facebook, and WOW, do I ever want EVERYTHING they are clearing out!)
My plan remains this... if by some chance I can get out of here early, I am driving right down to the Royal. If I cant get out early, its home time to do some jumping.
Lets see where the day leads me!
Today Linda is off with Sable to ride in the Spirit of the Horse demonstrations (presented by the OEF) to promote the AHA and OCTRA.
This is the second year that she has had this opportunity, and also the second year I will sadly be missing it. Of course it falls on the one day where I have absolutely no chance of getting off work (when the boss is gone, I must stay here to man the battleship!). Last year was my fault however, I had lost my personal phone sometime in October and had since been using only my work blackberry, and hadn't given Linda my new number, so all the calls and texts remained unseen until it was all over. Of course, I found my phone half a year later in the pocket of a jacket. Figures!
I am very sad to be missing out on this, especially with all the crewing I have done for them this year and the 2 RNTs we did with Sable, its harder to miss as we became even more of a team than ever before. Just doesn't feel right my team is missing their top crew!
However, it is nice to not be surrounded by all that temptation. I am not in a position to do a lot of shopping this year (however I am seeing all the Bahr's sales on their facebook, and WOW, do I ever want EVERYTHING they are clearing out!)
My plan remains this... if by some chance I can get out of here early, I am driving right down to the Royal. If I cant get out early, its home time to do some jumping.
Lets see where the day leads me!
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Oopsie Tuesday
I missed writing about this after it happened, but it was pretty funny.
When Tayla came to pick me up from the train station, I ran over to her car and opened the door, only to find it wasn't her car...
Nope. It was a car that looked exactly like hers (including tinted windows) and I terrified the people inside.
I have been very very careful about my car choices since then.
When Tayla came to pick me up from the train station, I ran over to her car and opened the door, only to find it wasn't her car...
Nope. It was a car that looked exactly like hers (including tinted windows) and I terrified the people inside.
I have been very very careful about my car choices since then.
Crash course in stirrupless work.
Monday and Tuesday were pretty quiet for me. Instead of braving "Superstorm Sandy" I stayed in and cleaned my tack.
I brought it back to the barn last night, brought Bentley in, groomed him, and tossed my nice clean saddle up on his back. The plan was to add the stirrups at that point. I grabbed the irons and looked in the bag. Uh oh. No leathers. Hmmm.
Now came the big decision: what kind of lazy should I be tonight? The kind of lazy where I switch saddles so I don't have to ride stirrupless the whole time, or the kind of lazy where I don't want to change saddles once its already on. I picked the latter. Don't ask me why, theres not a lot of rationalization for it.
The ring ended up being much busier than I expected considering lessons were cancelled. DJ and her family were there too, our first time riding together since they moved in. After it was all over, I asked Dre what she thought of Bentley (as she also rides an arab and had never seen me ride B) and she said she was more impressed with me riding stirrupless and having the coordination to keep checking my watch instead of desperately clinging to the saddle. I had a good laugh and explained, the only reason I was checking my watch was in thinking "oh please let it be X minutes by now!"
I have been working hard on making a reasonable riding/conditioning schedule for over the winter. I will blog more about it later, but last night's ride went like this:
10 min walk warmup
10 min trot warmup
5 min walk
5 min trot
5 min canter
5 min trot
5 min walk
10 min trot
10 min walk cooldown.
Total 30 mins walking, 30 mins trotting, 5 mins canter
I am dubbing Wednesdays to be my dressage night. I was hoping to ride entry test 1 (and even memorized it on train on the way home) but there were just too many people. However, we did improve our leg yields to the left, and our right lead canter, both the symptoms of his or my weak side, and I did a lot of sitting trot, so I think that can kind of count for our weekly dressage day.
Like usual, we started on left lead canter, I had wanted to do 3 mins of this, but at 2.5 mins, I was exhausted, somehow it was more work than sitting trot. I started to bounce unfairly on Bentley's back. So we walked a bit (took it out of our 2nd 5 min walk break) and changed directions. On the right lead, it took him 3 times before he got the right lead. I think what made the difference was I gave him an exaggerated open rein to the inside. Part of whats hurting us is my tendency to twist to the outside when he is no longer straight. The open rein helped me to stay straight and twist inside more. I focused more on getting the lead than making a pretty transition. We did have to stop partway through as more people entered the ring, we just trotted around until they were ready. After that, it only took the second try and Bentley had the correct lead. I think we are making good progress!
Also, by our second time cantering, I was focusing less on my seat and more about staying upright, not leaning into the curve like a motorbike. I think it helped us quite a bit, hopefully it keeps helping us with the lead if I focus on that. I think my seat actually improves when I stop thinking about it, just relaxing it, and focusing on changing something else.
For our last 5 minutes of trotting, I decided to post. I don't know whether it was Bentleys stride or my saddle, but I got hit both going up and coming down. Who ever heard of sitting trot being more bearable than posting? Seriously! Not sure what I am going to do about that yet. Will have to mull it over for a while.
And how am I this morning you might ask?
I'm pretty good. I wont be riding a bike anytime soon (too many hits!) but my muscles are fine. No cowboy walking. My back is a little sore too, I tried to do some situps last night and my lower back was bugging me too much. Not sure if its aggravated from the riding or just in general, I haven't done situps in ages.
I brought it back to the barn last night, brought Bentley in, groomed him, and tossed my nice clean saddle up on his back. The plan was to add the stirrups at that point. I grabbed the irons and looked in the bag. Uh oh. No leathers. Hmmm.
Now came the big decision: what kind of lazy should I be tonight? The kind of lazy where I switch saddles so I don't have to ride stirrupless the whole time, or the kind of lazy where I don't want to change saddles once its already on. I picked the latter. Don't ask me why, theres not a lot of rationalization for it.
The ring ended up being much busier than I expected considering lessons were cancelled. DJ and her family were there too, our first time riding together since they moved in. After it was all over, I asked Dre what she thought of Bentley (as she also rides an arab and had never seen me ride B) and she said she was more impressed with me riding stirrupless and having the coordination to keep checking my watch instead of desperately clinging to the saddle. I had a good laugh and explained, the only reason I was checking my watch was in thinking "oh please let it be X minutes by now!"
I have been working hard on making a reasonable riding/conditioning schedule for over the winter. I will blog more about it later, but last night's ride went like this:
10 min walk warmup
10 min trot warmup
5 min walk
5 min trot
5 min canter
5 min trot
5 min walk
10 min trot
10 min walk cooldown.
Total 30 mins walking, 30 mins trotting, 5 mins canter
I am dubbing Wednesdays to be my dressage night. I was hoping to ride entry test 1 (and even memorized it on train on the way home) but there were just too many people. However, we did improve our leg yields to the left, and our right lead canter, both the symptoms of his or my weak side, and I did a lot of sitting trot, so I think that can kind of count for our weekly dressage day.
Like usual, we started on left lead canter, I had wanted to do 3 mins of this, but at 2.5 mins, I was exhausted, somehow it was more work than sitting trot. I started to bounce unfairly on Bentley's back. So we walked a bit (took it out of our 2nd 5 min walk break) and changed directions. On the right lead, it took him 3 times before he got the right lead. I think what made the difference was I gave him an exaggerated open rein to the inside. Part of whats hurting us is my tendency to twist to the outside when he is no longer straight. The open rein helped me to stay straight and twist inside more. I focused more on getting the lead than making a pretty transition. We did have to stop partway through as more people entered the ring, we just trotted around until they were ready. After that, it only took the second try and Bentley had the correct lead. I think we are making good progress!
Also, by our second time cantering, I was focusing less on my seat and more about staying upright, not leaning into the curve like a motorbike. I think it helped us quite a bit, hopefully it keeps helping us with the lead if I focus on that. I think my seat actually improves when I stop thinking about it, just relaxing it, and focusing on changing something else.
For our last 5 minutes of trotting, I decided to post. I don't know whether it was Bentleys stride or my saddle, but I got hit both going up and coming down. Who ever heard of sitting trot being more bearable than posting? Seriously! Not sure what I am going to do about that yet. Will have to mull it over for a while.
And how am I this morning you might ask?
I'm pretty good. I wont be riding a bike anytime soon (too many hits!) but my muscles are fine. No cowboy walking. My back is a little sore too, I tried to do some situps last night and my lower back was bugging me too much. Not sure if its aggravated from the riding or just in general, I haven't done situps in ages.
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