Saturday Ride

80's shouldn't happen in March.  Not even on the last day.  Not this far north.  And tomorrow is supposed to be in the 90's. April 1st - no fooling!

I had a good ride on Buddy today.  And I even got pictures :)  Two of the moms were nice enough to snap some shots for me.  Going through the pictures I wished for video - if the still shots are anything to judge by, we have a lot to work on.

Dusty trails

We had a good ride, working on walking without jigging, and trotting without getting hollow.  It was hot. The young woman riding with me made me want to want to cry, her seat is so pretty.  She rides Pete, the pinto half-Arab, and the two of them look amazing. She has no problems keeping her shoulders back or her legs where they belong. She's also doing reining on a cute little rose grey Arab.  I hung out after I got done with Buddy to watch most of her ride.

No cantering today.  We stuck to basics and worked on cadence and staying round.  Buddy got a bath when we finished up.  He has that baby fine mane that turns into tangles in the slightest breeze, and a penchant for shaking his head, so he gets to wear braids to keep the elflocks to a minimum.  I am once again thankful that Sunny has low maintenance mane! 

Shoulders back!

I brought home the entry form for our first show.  It's the South Dakota Arabian Spring Show on April 21st.  The Region 10 qualifier.  We'll see how that goes....

Amyra

 I checked in on Amyra before I left.  That's (I think) Zeus next to her whose head I cut off.  They're buddies.  She's looking slick and shiny, and she's apparently forgiven me for the shots and sticking a plastic tube up her nose (strangles vaccine).  She even left the bale to come get her belly rubbed.  Of course, so did Zeus, a short, but very wide, buckskin, and a little bay mare.  I had my hands full doling out scritches there for a minute or two.

Lesson Day(s): Buddy, & a Canter "Fail"

Last night was SO not pretty.  I hadn't had a chance to ride since last week, and I could really tell.  Plus I forgot and wore looser jeans than I should have.  They kept bunching and creeping up, and I couldn't get a good grip on anything with my calves.  Poor Buddy - he was so confused. 

Despite my jeans, we were doing fairly well at walk and trot.  Eric had me go ahead and ask for a canter transition.  I hadn't cantered Buddy yet, and it wasn't a good night to start.  Wrong lead.  I wasn't getting him set up well - and to be fair, he was anticipating. But eventually we got coordinated enough to get the correct lead. 

The actual canter was a lot springier than I was expecting, and again, I couldn't keep my leg steady.  I'd get my legs in place, he'd interpret it as a cue to speed up, and I'd automatically release and lose my leg position.... Yeesh!  Plus, he likes to GO!  Which isn't the most comfortable feeling when your seat doesn't feel as secure as it should. 

Of course, eventually we had to come back down.  Getting to trot took four laps (we were using just half the arena).  Not completely Buddy's fault - he definitely wasn't running away or going faster, he just thought I wanted him to collect.  His canter kept getting rounder and slower and rockier...  Which would have been fantastic, except that wasn't what I was asking for....

Thankfully, today went much better.  In breeches and half-chaps, I had some extra stick-um and I could hold my lower leg where it belonged much better. Walk and trot weren't noticeably better (but they were pretty good yesterday, so that's okay).  But with my leg on and staying in place, canter was greatly improved.  I need to remember to prepare by sitting deep, leaning back, and being really be firm about moving his hip over.  And to close both legs on him when I ask.  I was taking my inside calf off completely - which Eric could see, once I didn't have flappy pants legs getting in the way. 

Getting back down to trot went better, too.  Just like going up, I need to sit deep, stretch up and back with my shoulders, close both legs around him, and say "whup-trot!" while I half-halt.  And just like going up, I need to keep my legs closed on him until he trots.  When everything's coordinated properly, he really sits down.  As in right NOW.

We didn't do a full, formal lesson either day, really.  Last night I shared my time slot with one of his junior riders, and tonight he worked a couple of different horses while I rode so he was in and out.  Which is fine with me - I get his undivided attention during the stuff I'm having more issues with, like canter and canter transitions, and I can work on the basic, quiet stuff more on my own.  When he sees something he wants adjusted he tells me, or if he's handy, I ask.  A lot of it is a matter of Buddy and I figuring one another out and getting comfortable with one another. 

That being said, I'll ride Buddy tomorrow, as well.  Since it's Saturday, a bunch of the kids will be riding, too so chances are I'll get to watch a lesson or two, which is always a plus. And I'm hoping maybe I can convince one of them to take some pictures.  

The extra ride this week is because next week all Eric's horses get their spring vetting, which means vaccinations, Coggins, hock injections for those that need them, and I think the show farrier and a chiropractor are coming, too.  They get two days off after all that, so since my schedule is bad for the end of the week, I'm going to take Sunny over for a lesson Wednesday.  Which works out well, because I think it's time I got more homework for the two of us.

Acchheww!

Horribly windy today - hope it blows in some rain. But what a waste of a perfectly good weekend.  I spent two very nice riding days mostly sick with a nasty cold and spring allergies.  Not sure which was worse.  But the cold medicine wasn't touching the allergy symptoms. Even the cats didn't want to share the couch with me. Two boxes of kleenex and lots of hot tea and vitamin C later, I'm feeling almost human again.  I think the cold is passing, and the allergies on their own are manageable.

Note to self, though, don't ever decide to trim bridlepaths while on cold medicine.  It sounded like a good idea at the time.  Sunny needs a corrective clip, but that will have to wait for a less windy day.

G had the boys locked out of the top lot so that they could fill the corn bin today.  They'd been when I got there, but the delivery guy didn't close up the bin when he left.  I have climbed up to do it a time or two, but with the way the wind was gusting, I decided today wasn't going to be one of those days.

Patience

The boys were waiting at the gate to come up to drink, though, so I haltered them and led them up to the waterer.  Or I tried.  They were both a lot more interested in angling over to the spilled corn than in drinking, but I could just picture the ladder tipping over and landing on us, so I nixed that idea. 

After they'd both had an opportunity to wet their muzzles and dribble down my front, I locked them back out, to their great disgust.  They resumed their post by the gate, since it also happens to be a good spot to tuck in out of the wind.

G's been working on the electric fence, and it was clicking loudly away up by the barn.  Hoping that meant it was fixed down below as well, and that I could turn off the portable, I grabbed the fence tester out of the truck and hooked it carefully over the wire by the barn. Carefully, because I swear G sets the voltage on STUN!  It does discourage the sheep and the calves from ducking through it - but I've seen sparks shoot out clear out the bottom of the tester on occasion.

Unfortunately, I think I may need a new tester.  When I touched the ground on a handy stake, not only did the tester not shoot sparks, it didn't light up whatsoever.  One more thing to add to the TSC list for my next visit.

Off to check the weather and see if there are any rain clouds headed in our direction.  I sure hope so!

Lesson Day: Buddy, with a dash of rain and music by forklift

Dreary and grey, with on and off drizzle that I kept hoping would turn into actual rain.  It was just wet enough to make the pasture too soft to ride (don't want to dig divots in the new grass), so I didn't ride, just checked on the boys.  Their heads popped out of the bale as soon as I turned into the driveway and they headed up to meet me at the gate.  I think they were hoping for another grazing session, but unfortunately I was running behind.

At Eric's I pulled in and parked to the sight of a big red dump truck half full of rubble and the beeping, revving sounds of a forklift's back-up warning competing with the crack and crunch of concrete at war with hydraulics.  Apparently it was time for the old barn foundation next to the outdoor arena to come out.  It wasn't dying easy.

I must have spent half an hour or better just brushing Buddy, who enjoyed a couple of days off and is completely back to sound.  He's shedding drifts of ruddy winter coat.  He leaned into the rubber curry wriggling his nose and sidling toward me whenever I paused to clean balls of hair out of the brush teeth.  Shedding is itchy!

I dug my 48" girth out of storage after last week's lesson, and was pleased to find that it's just the right length.  Much better than pulling Sunny's 52" clear up to what feels like his ears.  I also set him up with a bridle of his own: an old plain leather headstall with an copper-mouth, eggbutt snaffle bit and split reins - I can always use one of Eric's, but this way I don't have to dig through the tack rack and readjust to fit his tiny little head every time I ride him.

Since it wasn't actually raining and the indoor was pretty muggy, I opted for an outdoor lesson even with the added challenge of heavy equipment in close proximity.  What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

I was encouraged by the fact that neither Buddy, nor Jackson - beautiful black stallion with long flowing mane & tail that Eric was riding - seemed particularly put off by the commotion.  Nevertheless, Buddy was definitely UP.  I don't think he's ever going to do a believably steady-Eddy impression, but I'm taking some comfort in the fact that he doesn't feel nearly as hot on top as he looks from the sidelines.  I just need to ride him, not look at him.  Initially he was Mr. Antsy-Dance-y complete with head-shaking and flying slobber, but overall he was also much softer and more consistent than he's been.

We did a lot of transition work.  English Pleasure horses are encouraged to do every thing BIG, so Buddy's gradually learning not to BURST into a trot.  We did lots of collected walk to sitting trot to working trot and then back down through sitting trot to walk.  We also practiced stopping softly and then walking off calmly on both a loose rein and a collected walk.  And gathering up from a loose-rein walk to a collected walk without charging off into a big trot.  (I figure, if Sunny can learn to reach down for the bit and collect as soon as I sit up and squeeze my legs around him, before I even start to gather the reins, Buddy should certainly be able to.)

I rode through three big spooks brought on by the BOOOM! of concrete hitting the dump truck behind us.  Assuming Eric's correct that they were typical of Buddy's response when he's badly startled, I shouldn't have any problems staying with him.  He doesn't do that nasty drop-a-foot-and-simultaneous-sideways-levitation spook that leaves riders hanging out there in mid air, and he comes back right away, so it was all good.  Rufus is MUCH worse.  But definitely good to find out in a lower stress and less potentially embarrassing location than the show ring.

We finished on a couple of rounds of working trot that Eric said he couldn't find a fault with.  Whee!  Next week I start riding Buddy twice a week.  Eric's going to keep working him a couple of days to continue getting his canter backed down, and I'm going to concentrate on more of what we've been doing at the walk and trot, building muscle strength and reinforcing consistency.

Happy Ponies

The spring grass isn't very tall yet, but it is tasty - at least the boys think so.  As a post-shot reward I took them out along the driveway to graze for 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, they aren't quite done with their shots.  I messed up and got just flu andWest Nile instead of the West Nile combo I thought I was getting.  And of course I only discovered it after I got the boys done.  After some running around, Amyra got the correct combination, and I have Rufus's ready to go.  Sunny and Thunder still need sleeping sickness and tetanus.  And I now have the correct vaccines saved in my shopping list for purchase next year.

They'll all get the nasal strangles vaccine and a rabies shot yet, as well, but I don't like giving them everything all at once, and since the mosquitoes are already starting to arrive, West Nile was a priority.

On the plus side, Sunny and Amyra took their shots as nicely as usual.  Thunder was good, too.  While he's not as relaxed as the other two, he has come a very long way from the panicked response of previous years.  He took a whole two steps when I gave him the first shot, and was completely stationary for the second.  Good boy!

And this morning we have rain!  Not a lot of it yet, but enough to get things wet at least.  I'm hoping it continues all day and gets everything completely sopping.  Which is something I NEVER thought I'd be saying again after last spring!