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