Not so Good News

So... last Saturday I went out to get Gwen and saw this:

It's a laceration about two inches long and about an inch deep on her right hind, just below her stifle. While it doesn't look *that* bad at first glance (bad, but not life threatening bad) it's very deceptive.  A hour or two later, she started squirting joint fluid. Not. Good. She was immediately put in a stall, and a vet was called.

Good news: she's expected to make a full recovery. The injury doesn't seem to be too severe, and our biggest fear at the moment is infection. She's on some very powerful (and expensive) antibiotics and confined to a stall for the foreseeable future. But it's going to be a long recovery period. Like, three to four months. Ugh.

Tomorrow will be one week since the incident, and so far her wound is looking SO much better!  She stopped leaking joint fluid on Monday, and she's not limping very badly at all (she has no trouble walking around her stall, and is actually doing donuts out of boredom. More on that later). The vet should be out again tomorrow to take another look, but it's healing so quickly that I think we'll be fine.

I'm hoping I'll get the go-ahead to start doing some gentle ground work with her. No circles, of course, but at least some porcupine game. We need to refine some of our games and I think it would help cut her boredom if I gave her something to think about.

But yeah. This week has been "fun".

J

Assumptions

Gwen and I have been rocking lately, and before I go into the meat and potatoes of what I wanted to say in this post, I'll do a quick update.

Since the summer is unbearably hot here, and I am naturally lazy (introvert here), Gwen and I have gone bareback since June. It has been a FABULOUS opportunity to work with her on the ground, and take the pressure off of riding. I'm not as sleek and trim as I was at 16 (*Cough*), so our bareback sessions are usually short, sweet, and SLOW. Over the past few weeks I have been getting a bit of trot out of Gwen, but it takes very little to tip me off of balance. She's such a wonderful partner that the second she feels me wobble, she halts. It's nice to know she's not going to dump me, but it's hard to progress when I never get a chance to establish my balance while trotting.

But, we have come leaps and bounds on other rideing-related things. Our back-up absolutely ROCKS. I can usually get a really nice back up without touching the reins. She's so sensitive to the slightest shift of my weight, that I have to be really careful not to lean forward and inadvertantly ask her to back up. She's also gotten super responsive at taking directions from my legs/seat/weight that I barely use my reins (we've been going one-rein all summer, too). It's so nice to know that my horse is listening to me, and trying so hard to do what I'm asking her. I'm definitely not up to par, and have been trying so hard to get better so that I can give her clear cues and not accidently cue for something I didn't mean to.

Anyways. Bareback is great, but we've progressed about as far as possible, since I can't trot/canter/jump (although, we DID take our first jump over the barrels bareback last monday!! It was AWESOME!!!)

Along with riding bareback, in my non-barn time, I have been doing a lot of looking into saddles, saddling, saddle fitting, etc. I came to the conclusion that my western saddle did not fit Gwen. It was just way too big for her. In fact, I don't think any western saddle will fit her, without being too small for me. I'm not that big, but she's got a short back.

So earlier this month, I sold my western saddle to a friend at work, who is getting ready to bring his horse home. I feel confident that the saddle will fit his long-backed TB, and it's a good fit for him both physically and financially. It's a synthetic saddle, so he won't need to worry about leather care.

So I've been on the hunt for an english saddle since then, and I know exactly what I want. I'm going to go with a Wintec again, and I'm really leaning toward the close contact saddle. Thankfully, there's a used Wintec all-purpose saddle at the barn that actually fits me! (most of the saddles are child-sized). Yesterday, I took it out and tried it on Gwen and... it fits her perfectly! I was amazed. It's like fate!

Today was our second day in a saddle. We're going slow (I can definitely tell that Gwen is not as confident in a saddle as she is bareback. Understandably, since she hasn't worn one in months!). We're taking things slow, but I have a feeling I've been pushing her a bit faster than she'd like. I'm making a concious effort to SLOW DOWN. I'm just so excited to be jumping.

Which takes me to the real reason for today's post. Lately, people have been making a few comments about Gwen's behaviour. Said individuals are not exactly experts (let's just say that the oldest one is eleven...). Rather than correct them, I just kinda shrug it off and proceed in silence. I realized that I just do not have the patience to explain what I'm doing.  This struck me as sad, since I really ought to be an ambassador for Parelli/Natural Horsemanship, and here I am making a point not to explain why I'm doing what I'm doing??  Why not?

It's because of assumptions. People see me playing the circling game with Gwen, and assume it's lunging. Rather than take time to explain what it is, and how it's NOT lunging, I just grit my teeth (metaphorically speaking) and ignore it. I let them think what they want and just carry on. It's ten times harder to explain something to someone who already assumes they know what's going on, than to explain it to someone who's clueless. And lately, I just don't have the patience to deal with it.

Example: Today I was playing with Gwen on my 12' instead of the 22', because I wanted to put more focus on riding than on-line. She was very unconfident, whether it was because she was saddled, or because there were so many other people in the ring (she's also gotten used to being just one-on-one with me) or both, I don't know. Either way, our circling game was pretty broken. I was prepared for this, and made sure to start her out on her favorite direction, rather than asking her to go her "hard" way. I let her walk for two to four laps, just letting her settle in and relax, before I asked her to change direction and go the other way.

Predictably, when we changed direction, instead of making a smooth transition, we had a lot of stop-start-stop-start. I gave her the time she needed, and she let out a soft sigh and started to relax. However, even after this small release, her circling to the left was choppy, and she would only walk a few steps before she'd stop again. She'd stop, look at me, and I'd gently ask her to keep going.  It was during one of those stops that a kid on horseback halted along the rail, said something about Gwen just standing there. Something along the lines of "Gwen's just like 'I don't wanna move!' she's so funny". I said something back like "Yeah, she's just going to stand for a moment" to which the kid replied "Because you don't make her go" with the attitude that I was being a bad horsewoman, because I wasn't *making* my horse go forward like I wanted her to.  I answered, (slightly more sternly than I probably should have,) that "No, I'm *not* making her go. I'm letting her rest and think about it," at which point the kid did not reply.

But the comment pissed me off.  Like SERIOUSLY pissed me off. Because it had the assumption behind it that Gwen was behaving badly, or stubbornly, or lazily, and that it was my job to "make her go", with the attitude of "you're letting her get away with <insert whatever>". I don't want to be a bitch. I really don't. But I do not have time to correct someone whose already made up her mind about how to handle horses. This is probably not the attitude I should have.  Really, a better way to handle the situation would have been to say "No, I'm letting her think about the situation. She's not being stubborn, she's insecure. If you'd like to know why I'm doing this, I'd be happy to talk to you about it after the lesson."  Because I am. I really, really AM happy to explain what I am doing, if that person honestly wants to know. 

I guess what pisses me off the most is that people assume Gwen is stubborn, or lazy, or naughty, etc. And they like to TELL me that she's being naughty! As if I will laugh and agree with them. I don't. Gwen is not naughty. She's never, ever BEEN naughty! She's the sweetest, most sensitive horse I've met, and I am not being biased (well, maybe a little).  But really, she is. She gets nervous, so she stops. She gets unconfident, so she stops. She gets worried or timid, and needs to stop and assess the situation, to see if she's OK, to see if I'm OK, and then she can process, breathe, and we move on. But people don't see the timid/nervous/shy/unconfident part. They just see the stopping and assume she's being lazy, and I'm letting her.

It's amazing to me how no one (outside of Natural Horsemanship) ever describes a horse as "shy", or "timid". They're always "lazy", "Stubborn", "mean", Mares are all "bitchy", geldings are always "grumpy". I've never been introduced to a new horse, and been told "You have to be careful with him, he's very unconfident about his feet". It's always "He's stubborn, he doesn't like to have his feet picked up so you have to do XYZ to make him do it". 

Or it's "She's stubborn and won't pick up her right lead".  It's never "She's not comfortable cantering yet".  This is something I am very aware of. Gwen is not confident cantering. She's especially not comfortable cantering on her left lead, so we spend a lot of time warming up at the trot, online and riding, before I ask her for a canter. And while we're warming up, if she feels paticularly unconfident that day, we might not canter at all. Or I might ask for a few steps, and then stop there. It took me almost a year for her to be confident trotting with me on her back, (when she's not confident, it's like riding a run-away jack-hammer) but now she can trot almost slow enough and smooth enough to qualify as a western-pleasure jog!  And that's because I didn't start out asking her to trot all the way around the arena! We trotted one step and then walked. Then two steps, and walked, and so on, until she was comfortable trotting down the short side of the arena. And then the long. And now we can go all the way around!  She wasn't being "lazy", she was anxious! Now that she knows it's nothing to be afraid of, and she's not going to be pushed past her comfort zone, she's happy to trot with me.

Anyways, I've probably exhausted the topic of assumptions now. It's something that I have to live with. More than the assumption, tho, what ticks me off is that the people making the assumption don't really care to hear the explanation. I've tried telling a few of the girls about what I do, and it just kinda... goes in one ear, out the other, and they go back to doing things the way they always have. Oh well. They're only teenagers. Maybe they'll grow out of it?

Until next time,

J.

Tough Choices

I have a lot of updates about Gwen, but this post is not about that. This post is about taking a firm look at my financial situation and making some tough choices. Money is tight, and I'm already doing all the usual "money saving" techniques (like taking my lunch to work, not eating out, not going to movies, cutting back on cable, etc), but things are still pretty... tense with me.  I want to buy a house in the near future, if only to cut my monthly rent payment down a bit.

So, in an effort to spend money only where I MUST, instead of just where I want to... I have chosen to cancel my membership with Parelli Connect. It was a difficult choice, and I will definitely miss all of the free advice, lessons, and sheer online content that Parelli Connect offers, I was not utilizing the website (or the Parelli merchandise discount) enough to justify the monthly cost anymore.  Even tho it was only $10 a month, that's $10 I can now invest in my savings account, for the future.

Hopefully, within the near future, things will change for the better and I will be able to re-join.

J

Slacker and An Awesome Dream

I've been slacking, and it shows. I've been taking it real easy lately, using the weather as my excuse. It's been rainy, so I've only gone to the barn to dust Gwen's feet with powder, and then used the mud as an excuse to go home. It's starting to show. Gwen's body condition has gone from decent to pretty sad (not in an under fed sort of a way, just a general lack of conditioning).  She's RBI, so I *know* she's not exercising herself out there! 

I feel bad about this. It's part of my job as her leader to make sure she is getting the best care possible, and physical fitness is important. She's not getting any younger, which is starting to hit home lately, as I watch her develop physical symptoms of age. I know that, if she were properly conditioned, she would look and feel a lot better. So, today I did a bit of reading on conditioning programs, and how best to condition a horse. Since Gwen and I don't do anything strenuous (we don't compete, for example) I'm not worried about getting her into top showhorse form. I just want her to have decent muscle mass and healthy stamina.

But how do I balance her physical need for exercise with her mental desire to stand still? Of course I could make her move, both on the ground and in the saddle, but that could result in the destruction of our relationship. It certainly won't help it.  At this point, I think the best approach is going to be short bursts of intense physical activity (my idea of "intense physical activity" for Gwen is cantering 3-4 laps online, or once around the arena... probably not very intense for most?), followed by slow/low intensity activity or rest. Hopefully, this will fulfill both needs, physical and mental (physical to move, mental to not move). But, we'll see how it goes.

Of course, I plan to take things VERY slow. The last thing I want to do is injure Gwen physically, or push her too far mentally. We've been pretty connected, the last few times we played, so I'm not as worried about upsetting her, or pushing her past her threshholds, but I will definitely be looking out for her emotional well being first.  Our relationship is more important than muscle tone!

Anyone reading this... any thoughts on other ways I can condition Gwen without upsetting her mentally?

Now, on to the second part... my Awesome Dream!

OMG I had the most amazing dream about a horse last night!  I was at Fort Sam Houston riding stables, which is located on Fort Sam Houston military base. (I rode there for a year or two, when I first came to Texas, before I moved to my current barn).  Anyways, I'm at Fort Sam stables, watching a girl about my age ride this absolutely beautiful bay mare around in the arena. 

She's this gorgouse, leggy thoroughbred/cross looking mare, chocolate bay with a white star on her forehead *sigh* so pretty. 

So I'm standing at the side rail, with the girl's mom next to me, watching her ride this horse around the arena. Suddenly, the horse spooks violently. The rider falls, and the mare bolts off at a gallop, broken reins flapping, and saddle missing (not sure how she lost the saddle... it's a dream after all!).  While mom/everyone else goes to check on the rider, I manage to catch the horse. She's trembling and obviously hopped up on adrenaline, so I decide to play the "You better run!" game with her.  (By now, the horse is wearing a halter and a lead rope... dream remember.  But it's not a rope halter, just a traditional halter with a long nylon lead).

So I play the game with her, and she goes tearing around in a circle around me. I do my best to avoid things like cavaletti and cones, and eventually we're in a space where she can run and not trip. She goes barreling around this circle for two or three laps, and then slows down and comes in, trying to connect with me. I immediatly fall in love. I mean, this horse is BEAUTIFUL, and she's looking at me all calm and trusting and cute...!!

She's still tense, but not freaking out, so I walk her back over to mom and rider, who have both made it back to the arena fence by this point. Rider is fine, just a little spooked. I ask her if she's considered selling the mare. She says no, but she was thinking about it now.  She looks at her mom, who says they can definitely discuss it. In the dream, I know that I know these people at least a little (probably met them at the barn before, talked, but we're not friends or anything.). I know them well enough to know the girl's been having problems with the mare, and it's not getting better.  The mom asks for my phone number so we can hash out the details.

At this point in my dream, I go on this weird epic journey to look for a piece of paper, all the while leading this RBE mare around behind me, thru a barn that turns into a train... it gets weird. Anyways, I find a napkin, somehow get the horse stabled (at least, I'm not leading her anymore) and head back out to find mom/girl again.

I know the horse is going to be expensive (like, REALLY expensive, cause she's obviously well bred), but I've decided I can make it work by taking out a short term loan to pay for her (I'm not even sure you can do that, but hey... it's a dream).  I make it back to the mom, and we start discussing price. Before I can actually by the horse, tho, I wake up (Aw man!)

I know that it would have worked out, tho, and I would have bought the mare. *Sigh*. It's one of those dreams that makes you sad when you wake up and realize it wasn't real. I am desperately in love with this dream horse, now.  I've always wondered if I would like an RBE, and I think I have my answer, lol!! 

She didn't have a name in the dream (or, at least, I never learned it) so I've decided to call her "Prophetic Dream" in the hopes that I find her someday. She's actually replanced my childhood dream horse, as my new dream horse! Yeah, I'm a kid at heart like that ;)

If only dreams were real!

J

Best Day Ever!

Today, I had one of the absolute best days with Gwen! It started out pretty typical. It's so stinking hot that I don't bother bringing her tack out; I know I won't ride. So I went out to get Gwen, and as I was walking towards her, I thought about how I always approach her. I try to take my time, "meander" a little so she doesn't feel like I'm coming after her. I always approach, mindful of her reaction. If she gives me an eye and an ear (or both, or all four) I pause a little, smile, and say "Hi pretty girl!" If she keeps looking at me, or she drops her head to eat some more, I'll continue moving forward. If she gets tense, or starts to shift her weight like she wants to move away, I stop or back up, until she relaxes again. Once I'm near her, I'll rub on her for a few seconds until I feel like she's ready to come in. Today, I thought... "What if touching her is too much?" So today, I did everything I usually do except, when I was finally in her personal space, I didn't touch her. I just stood at her shoulder, facing the same way she was, and waited. She kept on munching, then picked her head up, sighed, and turned to look at me. I offered a horseman's handshake, and she responded in kind (which she usually doesn't do! Yay, progress!).  And then a wonderful thing happened... I took a step back to find better footing (was standing in hay), and Gwen picked her head up and backed up with me. I thought it might just be a fluke, until I backed up again, and she followed me again. Then she turned, watched me, and followed me all the way back to the gate at liberty!  She hasn't done that since last summer!  It was a great sign that I am back on the right track with her.

Once we were in the arena, we did our usual thing of liberty grooming, and then a little play time at liberty, to see how she felt. All I really do is some friendly game, a little driving/porcupine, and some yo-yo.  Usually it's at the yo-yo that Gwen decides she's free, and heads off for the gate. Today, however... I pointed as if to send her in a circle... and she actually went in a circle!!  It was a really tight circle, but it was a circle!  She was not stopping behind me, either, but continuing the shape until she was in front of me again. Whoo! I never thought we'd have liberty circles!

After a little more at liberty (including one really active "Yippee!" gallop-buck thing that had me in a fit of giggles... my little RBI being all extroverted!) we went on the 22' and played with circles and touch-it.

But by far, the best moment as at the end, when I crawled up bareback with just the lead (i.e. not tied as reins) and we went walking around the arena. Not that big a deal, until we stopped and I decided to try a back... and she did! I was getting a back up from her just by shifting my weight and lightly lifting the lead, no tension at all! I did it three times, just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and then hopped off and called it a day.  Whoohoo! I am so excited!

I can't wait until tomorrow :)

J

Games, Feet, and Savvy Lessons

Quick update. Sorry, no pictures. It's late and I'm not really in the mood to go thru the motions of loading them onto the computer. Maybe tomorrow?  Anyways...

Monday we had a not-so-great day together, and I blame it on myself. I was extremely distracted, and totally unable to meet Gwen's energy level. It had to do with the fact that I was not alone at the barn; the barn manager/riding instructor was there, along with a couple of visiting ex-barn rats (the kind that grew up, moved away, and were in town to pay a visit). She was getting them ready to go down the trails and even though I had the arena to myself, I was distracted by all the commotion of tacking up, etc. I am still self-conscious, and get very uncomfortable when I feel like I'm being watched as I play with Gwen. It's gotten a lot better, but Monday it just wasn't happening. I tried to push past it, but Gwen and I never really connected, and we probably didn't make any progress at all. But, I can happily say that we didn't move backwards.

Tuesday morning, Gwen had her shoes pulled off (Hallelujah!!). I've been dying to have them removed, but since I don't know how to do it myself... I had to wait. The barn manager did it for me, so I wouldn't have to pay the farrier (I swear, they charge for everything! Wasn't it enough to pay to have them put on?? Ah well). So when I got to the barn after work, Gwen was nice and barefoot again.  Yay!  I am thrilled with this... not so thrilled with the thrush infection going on in her feet. :/  Yeah.  That was reason numero uno that I wanted her shoes and pads off; I just KNEW all that nasty weather was going to bring about some thrush.  And since I'm a procrastinator, I don't have any thrush treatment yet (I know, I know... I'm a bad horse mama).  It's on order, with rushed shipping. I've been meaning to order No Thrush since I first heard about it, but hadn't had a chance yet.  Now, it's kind of a necessity...

Anyway. We played online again, as I don't really want to ride her until her feet are better, and our relationship improves again, but instead of staying in the arena, we went for a little walk. My game plan was to go down the trails with her online, but that didn't go so well when I saw how over grown the trails got. It became almost impossible for me to walk around thru all the foliage (and I hate bugs. I really hate bugs...) so we back tracked and took a walk up the road instead. It was good for her to get out of her comfort zone, and look at something new. She did very well, in that she stayed connected to me and responded when I asked her to do things. She never got super concerned, and we made it back alive (obviously) and then went to play in the arena.  I blew her mind when I made her back thru the gate into the arena. She was looking at me all "Whaaa?!  *back* up?  But... it's a gate, we go forward... whaaaat???" As soon as she made it in and I turned to close the gate, there was lots of licking and chewing.

We played touch-it at the trot, which got a bit of frisky behaviour from her (Where did THAT come from? My little RBI acting extroverted, awww) and then settled down to practice our circling game. She's kinda not so good at maintaining gait/direction at the moment (maybe why we fail at follow the rail? hmm) so I played with changing direction every time she wanted to stop. I got lots of questions, and she made a real effort to connect with me. We quit when she made it a full circle without stopping.

Tomorrow I'd like to play more with circles, and possibly figure 8's.

J

Gwen's Hoof, Camping Trip, and Catching Up

So, I have a lot to summarize!  First, let me talk about the horsey camping trip, which was three weeks ago now (Yeah, I'm a procrastinator).  The trip was *awesome*!  If you recall, I was worried that Gwen and I wouldn't make it, because of her hoof issue. To be honest, her foot probably would have prevented us from going, if just because the tissue was too soft to handle all the rocks.  However... I came down to the barn the Thursday before, to check on her, and.. my horse had shoes on!  O.O  Not only did she have shoes, but she had pads, to protect her frog and soft tissue while it healed. 

A quick call to the barn manager and I had the story; she'd paid for my horse to be shod, so that I could go on the camping trip. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude that I cried. I think I freaked her out a little, because she kept apologizing and asking if she'd offended me.

I prefer my horse to go barefoot, and if I owned Gwen outright, I would find a natural trimmer to work on her feet. But, since I don't get to make that call, she usually just goes barefoot with a "regular" farrier trim every six to eight weeks. Since she lives in a soft turn out, and we ride in a sand arena, there's no way her feet are prepared to handle all the rocks out at the camping area. The shoes kept her from being foot sore the whole trip.

That Friday, we had some rain in the morning which had us a bit worried, but by the time we got to the camp grounds (about two-three hours away) it was sunny and bright!  The horses made it there find, and Gwen was an absolute gem. As soon as I got her off the trailer, we went exploring. I didn't want to just turn her out with the other horses; I wanted to play with her in this new environment and get a feel for what she might be like outside of our comfort zone. She did great!  We did a lot of circle game in the field near the other horses. I wanted her to be close enough to see them, but not so close that she was "with" them. There was a small hill nearby, so we played the circle game up and down the hill, putting something new into our game. Then we did sideways along the fence line, and then squeeze game between me and the fence. Once she was calm and more interested in grazing than looking around, we took a break.  I let her graze a bit as the sun set, and then turned her out.

The next day was our first trail ride, and she did fine. The whole group went, so I knew she wouldn't give me much trouble, since her whole heard was with her. Sunday, tho, I was a little saddle sore, and opted not to go with the group on their next trail ride. Gwen and I hung out back at the camp grounds, along with her old buddy Cool.  I used the opportunity to play with her online again, away from Cool and away from her buddies. She was much more extroverted than usual, looking around and moving her feet, but she remained connected and responsive to me.  There were some small wooden poles in the ground, that defined the "camp" area from the field, so we I took the opportunity to do figure 8's and try our hand at a weave. Awesome.

A little while later, another barn woman showed up, so I saddled up Gwen and we hit the trails together, just her and me (her on a donkey, me on Gwen). It was our first time going out "alone" and Gwen did surprisingly well! She was a bit concerned about leaving Cool, but behaved like a lady. She definitely wanted to go back to the turn out, but she didn't give me much attitude (just a lot of drifting and attempting to reverse direction). There was absolutely no up/down behaviour, or real naughty behaviour from her, and once she realized I was being persistent but calm, she settled down and was a real trooper!  I was so proud of her!!!

We came back that Sunday evening... and the storm rolled in!  I didn't make it to the barn for over a week thanks to rain storms nearly every night (Crazy lightning, pouring rain... it was nuts!).  Last week, the barn was still pretty soggy, so I didn't do much.  I rode this past Monday, but didn't get back until today...

Now for a change in conversation...

I've been feeling a little discouraged lately, but wasn't sure why. I just didn't feel like Gwen and I were progressing, but I didn't know what to do about it. I felt like she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me, and would just shut-down once we got into the arena. This was concerning, but I didn't know what to do about it except make her move around... It wasn't until I read Emily's blog about communication that I had a light bulb. We weren't progressing, because we weren't communicating!  OMG! *face-palm* Duh! I was just bossing Gwen around, and I didn't even realize it. She was doing what I asked, but her responses were dull and "grump" because I was just being a dictator, instead of actually paying attention to what she was feeling. I wasn't getting any questions, because I wasn't waiting for them, and I wasn't encouraging them. Wow. I'd really been failing.

So I headed to the barn today with this new perspective, determined to turn things around.  The first thing I did was take advantage of a deserted barnyard and empty arena, to groom Gwen at liberty. I got her into the arena and parked her in the shade, then took her halter off. I let her know that she was free to move, and then proceeded with my grooming routine. Being introverted, she didn't go anywhere, but I could tell she was thinking about it. Most of the time she was very closed off emotionally (her eyes where half lidded, her head was down and her ears were "floppy". It's her classic "I'm hiding in my shell" face). I mostly ignored it. I *really* sloooooowed down my grooming routine. I made sure I used my curry in very slow, gentle circles, and spent a good long time working from shoulder to rear, paying more attention to my horse than actually worrying about getting her clean. Since we would be working online, I wasn't concerned about getting all the dirt off; this was about slowing things down.  I repeated the process with my stiff brush, concentrating more on moving slow, methodically and gently rather than getting her clean.

I didn't get much change from her, but I knew she was thinking about the fact that she was "free", because any time she moved her head to get a fly, or rub her face, she would lick and chew as soon as she was back to neutral, almost as if she were saying "Huh, I really am loose..."

Once her feet were picked and I had fly sprayed her, I reassessed then situation. I was waiting for a sign that she was ready to progress. When I didn't get it, I prolonged our grooming experience to include thoroughly combing/detangling her tail, then her mane, and finally braiding her mane into a running braid. By the time I was done with her mane, she was looking more alive, with more expression and paying more attention to the world around her. I decided we were ready to do something else. When I slipped her halter on, she had a tense moment. She wasn't ready to be online. I left her halter on, but I unsnapped the lead and made sure she was aware that she was loose again, even if she was haltered. We worked at "liberty" on some hind quarter yields, since that is the easiest thing for me to do with her when she is being a bit tense.

Once I had her moving away at just a suggestion, and coming to me willingly, I snapped her lead back on and we moved on to something else. My focus was "ask me a question", so everything I did was slow. We did more hindquarter yields, then shoulder yields. I made sure I made the lightest possible suggestion, and backed off the instant she even thought about moving. She wasn't very connected yet, but she was super responsive. I was finally getting TRUE forequarter yields, where her rear stayed planted and she was just moving her shoulders away. At the end, I barely touched her shoulder and she moved away. I dropped my hands instantly, she stopped, and we both waited. And waited. And waiiiiited. And then finally... Gwen let out a sigh and started licking and chewing. SUCCESS!! I knew we were ready to move on. 

I was letting Gwen tell me what we needed to work on. It became clear almost instantly, that we needed to work on straightness. I'd been letting her get away with backing up "crooked" in the yo-yo game, rather than having her back up nice and straight. Since we'd just worked on our yielding, and she was being very responsive at just a look, we worked on being straight when backing up. We started slow, with little wiggles, and then moment she started getting crooked, I would yield her back to straightness, and try again. After a few attempts, she was going backwards nice and straight, giving me two ears, two eyes, and asking a question. Yay!  Time for circles. My goal, again, was to keep everything slow, soft and simple. She'd ask a question, I'd point the direction I want to go, and only if she didn't start moving would I pick up my stick. I was really using a long phase one (pointing) before I would pick up my stick. Surprise, surprise, she started responding to the lightest phase! 

We didn't have great circles, but I was OK with it. She was actually paying attention, asking me questions, and looking for suggestions. So even though she would stop behind me, I was happy; because those stops were clearly questions, rather than avoidance. I'd turn, she'd give me two ears, and I'd point her back in the direction I wanted. She even volunteered the trot! We stopped, and waited. And waited. And waiiiiited... and then I got another big sigh, and a lot of licking and chewing!

After that, we tried some sideways along the rail. But, she wasn't really getting it, and was starting to shut down again. I made sure to get one good step of sideways, and then abandoned that game in favor of something different. We played touch-it with the barrels, and she even volunteered to go OVER them. Wow.

Throughout the whole session, I did TONS of stopping and waiting, letting her process. We wouldn't move on until I got a sign of relaxation, even when it meant I stood for a good five minutes until she finally let out a sigh, shook, and then licked/chewed. I ended there.  Since there was no one else around (and she would be confined the whole way) I removed her halter and walked her back to the turn-out at liberty.

On the whole, I'd say this was one of the most successful days we have had in a long time!  I feel motivated, and I can't wait to get back out there and prove to Gwen that I can listen. I want her to enjoy our time together again, and I feel like I finally remember how to achieve that.

J

Darn You Mother Nature!!

Two weeks ago, Gwen and I were doing great. We were making some real progress under saddle, particularly with her canter work. I really wanted to start working with her on the 22' line so she can get more comfortable cantering, without someone interfering from her back (*cough* me *cough*). However, the weather had other ideas. Friday, it stormed so badly that I didn't even go to the barn. It rained and even hailed, all weekend. Fast forward to a week ago Monday, it was so soggy and still raining so I didn't get to the barn until last Thursday. When I did get to the barn, I didn't do much. Just kinda hung out cause it was still too soggy to ride, or even play online. It wasn't until last Friday that I actually pulled Gwen out of her turn-out.

However, as I was grooming her, something a bit scary happened. I picked up her right front foot to pick it out. Her frog was really soft, and I didn't do anything more than normal, but all of a sudden it felt like her hoof just "gave" and the pick went too far. She didn't give a big "ouch" reaction, just a little "Oo!" but blood started seeping out. I, of course, was panicked thinking I had just stabbed my horse in the foot, possibly crippling her for life (<-- RBI over reaction). I'm happy to say that I kept my cool. I untied her from the rail and took her over to the barn manager, who took a look and told me that it looked like I'd punctured an abscess.

Next came our learning moment of the day. Gwen needed to have her foot soaked in a bucket, which I had never tried with her before. I was a little concerned that she would be unconfident about her foot in a bucket, but I was patient and kind, and rewarded with LOTS of treats... she very quickly learned that if she stood with her foot in a bucket, she'd get as many cookies as she wanted (man, has she got her human trained!).  She did fantastic!

Upon closer inspection, after the soak, it wasn't an abscess at all, but instead it looks as though she had been trying to shed her frog and it went a little sideways, creating a pocket of trapped blood. The barn manager told me I probably did more good than bad by popping it, because she's pretty sure it would have developed into a nasty abscess otherwise.

The latest in Pony Fashion!

We wrapped her foot, and then I let her have some undemanding/grazing time. She didn't limp at all, and isn't bothered by the wrap or the bandage.

Yesterday, we took a good look at her foot and it appears to be healed. However, the tissue is still very soft, and since it's not completely dry yet, we re-wrapped it dry to keep the moisture out so that the tissue can finish hardening (it looked/felt kinda like pruny skin around finger nails after a shower).

So, phew, Gwen is fine and making a great recovery, and has lucked out with almost an entire week of grazing/undemanding time instead of work (which is always nice for the relationship!). I'm hoping it'll be even better by tomorrow, so that we can still go on our barn camping trip this weekend...

Fingers crossed!

J

My beautiful girl!

Goals & Accomplishments!

So far, I haven't ever sat down and really thought about my goals for Gwen, with any sort of timeline or game plan. I have ideas about what I want to see, but they tend to come out more like "Wouldn't it be neat if..." and "maybe one day we can do this..."  I have loose goals in my head. Things like "I'd like Gwen to learn to relax at the trot" and "I want Gwen to pick up her left lead" but as far as making a game plan... yeah. I'm not so great at that part.

What this really means, though, is that I sometimes don't notice when we're making progress!  I mean, if I don't have a clear idea of what I'm looking for... how will I know when we've gotten there?

Part of the reason I don't have defined goals, is because I don't want to have a timeline, or expectation, for when things will get done. My plan with Gwen is mostly to have fun and make sure she's comfortable. I don't have any plans to show her, or "do" anything with her aside from what I am already doing, so I don't see as much need to write out or really define my goals with her.  But I've been thinking lately that... maybe I should?

We've made SUCH progress over the past 6 months, never mind the year!  It's about time I listed what we HAVE accomplished, so that I can stop dwelling on what we're still struggling with.  So... without further ado, here are the things we have put into our "win" column:

WINS

• Gwen can trot at a modest, comfortable pace freestyle (compare to: her hyper jack-hammer/pogo-stick impersonation of a trot that she had when I first got her).
• Gwen can canter on a 22' line (this is HUGE!  She is so unconfident about her canter)
• Gwen JUMPED THE BARRELS! (!!!!!!!!)
• I can pick up all of Gwen's feet from one side (both from the right, and the left. I still grin everytime I do this)
• Gwen can change direction online (took forever for her to figure out what this was about)
• Gwen can confidently cross the wooden bridge online, and can cross the bridge with encouragement freestyle.

I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them at the moment. I did get the big ones tho!

Now for the "goals" or...

WORK IN PROGRESS

• Get Gwen confident about deworming
• Get Gwen confident about cantering freestyle (it's more of a race than a canter right now)
• Get Gwen confident about jumping freestyle (we have not attempted this yet. Still working online)
• Consistently need only phase one/two for yo-yo and driving game
• Practice our figure-8
• Introduce Gwen to the weave (waiting until she's more confident at figure 8 before I attempt this, tho).

And that's kinda what's on my brain. I pick and choose what to work on as the mood strikes me, and also depending on how Gwen is doing that day. The more connected she is, the more I'll work on our "hard" things (like cantering, and jumping). At the moment, I'm really focusing on freestyle, particularly with developing Gwen's responsibility of maintaining gait (she tends to break down after a few strides).

And now my brain is fried. XD  Maybe I'll post a picture tomorrow...

-J

I'm a terrible blogger, but a good partner!

I have no time for a proper update, but I will say this... GWEN JUMPED THE BARRELS!

I have been trying to get her to jump over the barrel "jump" since last summer, and last Monday (a week ago) she did it!   Now, admittedly, it wasn't something I focused a lot of our time on, mostly because I thought (shamefully) that it would never happy. She's a little thing, only 14 hh or so, and those barrels are awful big and scary for a little RBI. She's also not very young... not an oldie, but old enough that I was worried about arthritis, or injury, etc, so I never really pushed it with her.

But as we've gone further, and she's gotten more in shape, I decided to try again. We had an awesome warm-up online session last monday, doing fun things like traveling circles, and lots of changes of direction, lots of side-ways to yo-yo to another traveling circle, to touch-it with the barrels... and when she gave me touch-it with her nose AND her feet... hm. I thought "Why not?" and asked for a little more. She was definitely trying her heart out, though she wasn't really happy about it, and after a bit of persistance and a LOT of patience, she hopped over! 

The next day, we jumped it again, this time both directions! Last Thursday, I did only on-line, no freestyle, and we did TONS of flowing games, and even some figure 8's (which she did awesome), and then we jumped the barrels again. She's getting so "into" it that the last time, she didn't even jump 'em. Just plopped her front feet over one, two, and then the back, one, two. Next time, we'll aim for a bit more impulsion. It IS called a jump, silly Gwen!

More, with pictures, when I have a time. Possibly tomorrow!

Till then,

J

Passenger Game: Summary

So I skipped the rest of my Passenger Game blog posts for a couple reasons, the main one being laziness on my part, haha! I played the game for six days, but had to stop before the seventh because my good luck with the arena ran out (But still, having six days in a row of an empty arena is... unheard of! Especially at this barn!). Overall... I guess it was a success? I'm not really sure. Part of the problem is that I didn't really establish any clear goals for this game, so I have no idea whether or not I was successful. Oops.

Moving forward, I am going back to basics. I rewatched all of my Level 2 dvds, and have been watching a lot of savvy club episodes on the parelli connect site. I want (need) to break out my 22' line and get to work perfecting some things online that are... broken. I need to restablish trust and communication online before I try to get back in the saddle.

I recently (today) watched an episode where Linda played the 7-games with Hot Jazz for the first time, which was a HUGE boost/help for me. Since Hot Jazz is an RBI, I was extremely excited to watch and hear how Linda not only played the games, but what she was looking to get out of them. It's really helped set me up with the proper goal in mind when I play with Gwen, which is CONFIDENCE!  Before, I was considering the game a "win" if she did it when I asked, but now I can see that what I really need is a quality of response, not just response itself. She might be super sensitive at the porcupine game, but if she's worried about it, I lost the game.

So, goal for next week: Work on building confident responses to the games, and work on the 22' line. Our circle game needs some work, too, lately. My "long term" goal is to get a canter on the 22' line/circle game. She has not done this outside of the round pen, ever. I'm hoping by summer, we can canter with confidence.

J

Passenger Lesson: Day 2

Today started off pretty gross. The ride to work was overcast and drizzly, and I was mentally bracing for another nasty day at the barn. But, surprise surprise, by noon the sun was out and shinning, the weather warmed up, and it stayed that way throughout the rest of the day!

I had fantastic luck yesterday with all the lesson kids heading out on a trail ride, but today I was all geared up to hit the round pen... and got an arena to myself instead!!!  There was only one riding lesson going on, and I was doing my online pre-flight-check with Gwen as they were finishing up. By the time I was mounted on Gwen, the arena was empty and I had the place to myself. Score!

I've learned that passenger lessons are very hard... for me! Apparenly, I am not a very good passenger. More like a back-seat driver. (*cough*). I have no problem letting her go where she wants... it's the stopping that starts getting on my nerves. At one point, I literally had to change "She's an introvert, she's an introvert..." over and over in my head, to remind myself that Gwen, innately, does not WANT to move her feet. Most of the lesson felt like we were taking two steps, stopping, two steps, stopping... ugh. Very infuriating, for me. I kept catching myself "encouraging" Gwen to keep walking when I could feel a halt coming on. I had to tell myself to let her stop completely, give her a few seconds, and THEN ask her to walk again. This was supposed to be a passenger lesson, not a "walk wherever you want" lesson. Clearly, I was having a harder time with this than Gwen was.

For the most part, she was very.... left brained about the whole thing. She kept putting herself into situations that would make her appear "stuck". Ex: there is a point in the arena where two jumps come together in approximently a 90 degree angle... and she'd stick her nose in it and act like "Oh... there's a jump... I can't go anywhere mom" and then "Whatcha gonna do about it?".  Thankfully, I am not a ten year old. I know my horse has a brain, and doesn't need me to steer her around everything. She's not dumb. She can figure out how to turn and walk the other way. So every time she got "stuck" or "blocked" by something, I'd just ask her to walk and keep asking her to walk until she got herself unstuck. She did this several times, as several different jumps, so I know it was purposeful. For a good five minutes, all we did was walk a (really, really SLOW) triangle from one "trap" to another. Argh!  LBI much?! 

I made it a point to keep my hands on the cantle of my saddle, so I couldn't be tempted to touch the reins and redirect her. If she got herself 'stuck' she could get herself unstuck.

Finally, mercifully, at the end of our lesson she actually started WALKING ON THE RAIL!! I was so damn impressed that she did this on her own, I only let her get three strides in before I dismounted her (as she was walking! She was quite surprised) and quit there. I am sincerely hoping that our next Passenger Lesson will progress a bit more...

At least we can't get into any arguments when I'm refusing to touch the reins or direct her! Sneaky little mare... I swear, she's RBI on the ground and LBI under saddle.

Won't get another chance to ride until Friday, due to work/Valentine's Day, so here's hoping she still remembers all this by then! :)

J

She's so fuzzy!!! Look at that winter coat!

Pushing Passenger Day One

After practically overdosing on Parelli Savvy Club episodes yesterday, I was ready to start some Passenger lessons with Gwen!  I totally lucked out; all the kids went on a trail ride and I had the ring to myself!  I had planned to use the round pen, but the weather lately has made it nasty, so I was pretty thrilled to get the arena to myself!

While I think the passenger lesson went well, I don't think my saddle is fitting the way it should. I've got the theraflex pad, and one set of 1/2" shims, but I'm thinking I definitely need more... but I'm not sure the best way to shim for her.  Physically, Gwen is built very slightly uphill, but her saddle actually rides downhill...  I've got the shims in the front, to try and lift the saddle, but it's just not sitting right.

See....

She's not standing perfectly square, but she's got weight on all four feet and is standing mostly straight. Especially in the first picture, you can really see how high/the depth of the slope behind her withers... her saddle is a bit narrow, and I've really struggled to get it up off her back. Thankfully, the Theraflex helps with that, but it's not giving her enough room in her shoulder, which is why I need more shims...

Bleh. I'll just have to experiment I guess...

J

Update

It's been a while since I have updated, so I must apologize. For a long time, it just felt like I had nothing to say, like there was nothing to report on. When I started thinking about it tho... there was a LOT to report on!  I just didn't see it at first.

One of my Christmas presents was a saddle. It's nothing special, just a wintec western, but it means that I have my own piece of equipment whenever I need/want it. When I got my tax return, I kept going back and forth on what I wanted to spend it on. I really, (and I mean REALLY) need a new pair of boots. My current pair are so beat up... the heels on both are busted, so they are basically flat shoes with torn up heels... it's terrible. But instead of getting a new pair of boots I bought... A Theraflex Western saddle pad and a set of 1/2" shims! 

It arrived in the mail last Thursday, and I got to try it out this past Saturday. I didn't do any riding (partly because it was raining, mostly because I need to work on some groundwork/online stuff.)  I think I'm going to need to get a second set of shims, tho.  My saddle is a bit narrow, and it also sits a bit downhill on Gwen, even though she herself is pretty level (she's just very narrow behind the whithers. I'm hoping that as I use the theraflex pad, she'll build a bit more muscle there).

Anyways.  I've been riding a lot more lately, and while I didn't think I was making much progress, when I actually considered where I had come from, I was blown away. The biggest difference I can see is in Gwen's trot. I think I've written before, in previous posts, that Gwen's trot is super speedy, jack-hammer trot. Seriously. It was /terrible/.   When I started riding, and wanting to trot, I approached it very carefully. I kinda figured, since she's an RBI, that her jack-hammer trot had a lot to do with tension and unconfidence. Her head would get real high, her ears would go back in that "I don't know what to do!!!" kind of way, and she would just trot as fast as she could because she was freaking out. So, when we started riding, I would just ask her for trot, and after two or three steps, she'd screech to a halt. I'd give her a little rub, wait until she gave me a bit of relaxation (usually she'd blow out or drop her head) and then we would walk again.

There were many days where I would only get two or three steps of trot out of her at all, and the rest of the time we would walk.  A couple months ago, I started asking her for a bit more. I'd let her do her two/three steps, come down to a walk, and then ask again. I'm sure we looked funning, going around the ring walking/trotting in two-three step intervals, but she was getting much better.  Her trot started smoothing out, and she lost a lot of that freak-out response when we first started.  Once she was doing that, I'd set a goal for myself.  Usually it was "I want to trot the short-length of the arena fence" so we'd trot that, and then walk the long side, and then trot the next short side, etc. She'd have a few moments of tension, but she really started understanding that it was OK to slow down if she needed too...

Now?  Shoot, we can go round and around the arena at a nice, comfortable trot!  It's not a western jog yet (I definitely have to post!) but it is lightyears away from where we were!  I'm super encouraged by this, and can't wait to see what the next few months hold.  Our next big task will be canter.

J