Lesson Day: Sunny, Buddy, and best laid plans...

~Sunny~

So much for my plans to test the show-ring waters with the boys on Saturday.  Yesterday's lesson with Sunny wasn't exactly a fail so much as a head-scratcher.  After perfectly normal-for Sunny walk-trot work in both directions, Eric had me ask for a left-lead canter departure.  And that's where things started to get sticky. 

Sunny, like most horses, goes more easily in one direction.  But he'll usually take the correct lead when queued without too much drama.  Not yesterday, at least not going left.  I worked and worked and worked, and no matter how well I had him set up, he'd just torque his whole body around until he could get his right shoulder forward.  Out of probably 35 attempts, I got him to take the correct lead a grand total of twice.

Once he was finally in it, he held it easily enough with no apparent bobbles, without breaking and without protest. 

After the second correct effort, Eric had me switch directions and go right - he took that lead easily enough, but kept craning his head to the outside, and he stumbled a couple of times.  Something just didn't feel quite right, although he still didn't seem to be actually favoring anything. 

I'd had the same issue with canter left on Tuesday when I rode - I blamed it on rider error then, because canter departures are still something I struggle with, and the ground is pretty uneven.   But after having me walk and then trot him again in both directions, Eric had me get off, and he tried canter left  to see if he could feel where the problem was any better from on top.  No luck, but Sunny did exactly the same thing with him to the left that he did with me, which definitively rules out rider error.

Eric flexed him and then had me trot him off, but Sunny trotted off square after that, too.  Whatever we poked, pushed, prodded and manipulated, nothing seemed to bother him, but something is definitely wrong.  This just didn't feel like naughty-horse attitude.  So... we won't be showing on Saturday. 

Eric suggested just doing the schooling walk-trot if I still wanted to take him, but given the footing which I know is really deep, the weather, which is crumby, and the two hour trailer ride... no sense pushing things.  There will be other shows.

Sunny has an appointment at the vet on Tuesday to see if they can determine what/where the problem is, and if they don't find anything specific, I may make an appointment with the chiropractor.  Since Sunny's happy enough running and playing in the pasture, and nothing's sore, warm, swollen or otherwise visibly wrong, he'll get a couple of (more) days completely off until the vet visit, and we'll see what happens. 

~Buddy~

After that debacle, it was Buddy's turn.  He nickered at me, flipped his mane and snuffled me with every appearance of being pleased to see me, stuffing his nose readily into his halter.  His new front shoes rang on the concrete barn floor like a regular-sized horse's instead of the Clydesdale he sounded like before - much better! 

I didn't rush grooming, even though he was pretty much clean barring a few flecks of sawdust.  He earned a bit of fussing this past weekend, and he enjoys it so thoroughly, it's hard to resist spending an extra few minutes. 

Tacked and on board, Eric had me working on rate since that's were I had the most issues at last weekend's show.  The familiarity of home is less distracting, but with Buddy rested and refreshed, there was still no shortage of forward to work with.  Slowing him down and then maintaining speed until told to change was just as challenging as usual, but he's holding frame and collection on his own for longer.  I love that light, floaty feeling when he's carrying himself. 

In the smaller indoor my tendency to let my outside leg drift forward was, as always, more pronounced, but to my great relief canter transitions in both directions were smooth.  It was a good lesson, not least because with back to back rides it was easy to tell where I'm inconsistent, and where I need to be quicker to adjust to each horse's particular quirks and personality.

And that was my ride time for this week.  I'll still go to the show tomorrow and be moral support and an extra pair of hands.  Eric's only taking five horses, so I'm guessing things will be a lot lower key. Definitely less stressful for me, that's for sure!

Lesson Day

Windy and brisk - the sun was trying, but not having much luck.  I think it might have crept into the 40's, just, but it was already dipping into the 30's when I headed for the farm.

Tonight was our first indoor lesson.  I warmed up (relatively speaking) in the outdoor arena, but at lesson time Eric stuck his head out of the barn and asked if I wanted to ride inside.

The indoor arena is about 1/3 the side of the outdoor, and Sunny's been under a roof about three times in his whole life.  He hesitated at the big sliding door of the barn when Eric slid it back for us, but stepped up onto the concrete when I asked him.  We proceeded down the aisle, with him eyeballing the horses in their stalls on either side and waiting for the ceiling to fall on him.  He wasn't any too sure about shadows we cast along the walls in the indoor at first, either, but I walked him once around to check out the corners and he settled right down.

This week we tried something new - haunches in.  And after a few odd fits and starts, we got the hang of it.  Poor Sunny - he tries really hard, but half the time I'm still sending the wrong signals, so things turn into a giant muddle more often than not.  So from haunches in, I was supposed to cue him to canter - which he was supposed to pick up. Sigh... 

You'd think we'd be getting it by now, but what a mess - after several sprawly, ugly departures and dropped-inside-shoulder, corner-cutting circles, Eric found me a dressage whip to tap him on the butt with.  That worked a bit better, but once he was moving I kept worrying about him charging out of the indoor and down the barn aisle - which I don't honestly think he wanted to do, he just wanted to keep looking in that direction in case there was something out there that might attack him - so I kept unintentionally shutting him down. 

It doesn't help that all of the bad habits I'm finally getting fixed at the walk and trot resurface with a vengence as soon as I think about cantering.  I get stiff, forget to breathe, drop my inside shoulder, give away my hands and automatically start leaning forward.  Once I finally managed to sit back, keep my hands quiet, and started trusting him NOT to tear off down the barn aisle, he stopped flattening and leaning so much - go figure.  We stopped on a good effort - by which point in the warmer air Sunny was good and sweaty. 

Wrap-up was more half-pass practice.  I'm still screwing that up as well, but at least I'm finally figuring out where my legs go - now if I could just get them both in the right place at the right time!

All things considered, it wasn't much worse than a few of our outside attempts, but at some point we need to get this canter thing clicking.

It's occasionally discouraging to watch Eric on a horse he's ridden a handful of times that's already sidepassing and loping around in lovely, easy circles - but considering Sunny's learning right along with me, we're making good progress.

By the time I'd walked him for half an hour or so he was starting to dry (and I was getting dizzy).  Outside it was dark, but the temps were holding steady at just south of 40' and the wind had completely died down. I was pleased - no, make that thrilled - to find Thunder a) still tied to the trailer, b) no scuffs on horse or trailer, and c) no big hole from pawing.  In fact, his halter wasn't even pulled tight.  Good boy!  I unsaddled, snugged Sunny into his new cooler, picked out his feet, and loaded them up. 

It was an uneventful haul home this week, at least - and the cooler worked a treat - back at the farm Sunny was dry underneath but for a damp strip behind his front legs where the girth runs.  Rubber curry to rub out the last of the sweaty bits, a good brushing everywhere else, and he was almost back to completely fluffy.  Definitely a good investment.

Lesson 3 : Sunny, and a short trail ride

I debated long and hard, but finally decided to take this week's lesson on Sunny instead of one of E's horses. Since Sunny's outside all winter and it's too cold to clip, I want to get at least a few lessons in before it gets too cold to have him sweaty and hot. (Not that he sweated much yesterday!)

I popped him in the trailer and headed over to Mt. Vernon. Arrived to a yard full of cars and trailers - a busier weekend, which was nice, as I got to watch part of the lesson before mine and all of the one after. Saddleseat, but still highly educational.

Sunny was a bit fidgety, but more alert than anxious since he's been there before. E has a pair of young German Shorthairs, and as I saddled one of them presented the two of us with a fresh deer leg.. yum!, NOT. Yet again I'm thankful Sunny lives with sheep (sorry if it's callous, but sheep seem to die a fair amount)l.

We hadn't gotten much chance to practice, but I'd worked on bending and asking him to step under himself more, and E said he could already see some improvement. The lesson proceeded much as the previous two, with more work on bending and counter-bending. Counter-bending is HARD. But we're improving, if only a tiny bit. Still, progress is progress.

And more turning on the haunches and then just moving the hips. Asking him to move just his back end is something I've actually worked on a fair amount, and Sunny remembered - it was nice to do something correctly! Moving just his shoulders wasn't quite as pretty, so we'll continue to work on that.

Then we worked on cantering. Which last time was terrible. While this time it was better, if only because he didn't fall on his nose, it still needs work.

BUT, I did manage one nice upward transition, and a couple better downward ones. Our biggest issue is falling out of gait after about three strides. Partly me, partly him. I automatically drop forward into two-point, and since he's already heavy in front.... When I remember to sit up and deep and breathe, we do much better. And he didn't try to run out, buck, or do anything seriously squirrelly - not that he's ever done that, but then, we've never had much focused arena time, either.

E offered to let me come practice with Sunny on Fridays if the arena's free, and I think I'm going to take him up on it. And he's going to check into a possible ride for me up north so I'll have a chance to practice what I'm learning during the week. Don't know if that will pan out, but it was still a nice feeling to hear he'd suggest that someone else let me ride their horse.

Post-ride I headed over for a trail ride with C, and we moseyed about 4 miles. As the day faded, the wind picked up and it cooled off quite a bit - the horses were looky, but more interested than leery. We did short collecting and softening sessions as we rode, trying to work some of the hollow out of his trot. I can definitely tell the difference when he steps under himself more - getting his nose tucked in and his backend up under himself even slightly is a vast improvement.

Sunday is worming and de-bot-fly-egging now that we've finally had a hard freeze. Maybe another ride, if the weather cooperates. :)