Videos!

Wow I just realized I hadn't published anything since January (although I had an unfinished draft which I'm publishing today with a fake date) - I knew I was slacking off on the blog but I hadn't realized I was slacking off THAT much.  Here are some videos from last Saturday's lesson with Marina - just to kind of show our progress.  Daniela has me riding with ONE draw / running rein - in case my English equestrian term is off what I'm referring to is a long rein which attaches to the girth between her front legs, then runs up through the bit ring and back to my hands.  This gives lots of leverage and allows me to pretty much force her head down when I want to - for instance if she gets stargazy when her best friend's in the parking lot or for canter departs where she tends to throw her head up, I can bring her head back down.  I know this is not an ideal situation and really hope to be able to get rid of the lot of auxiliar reins soon, but with the videos I've confirmed two things which make me a little bit less apprehensive - for one I'm not riding her behind the vertical except for specific situations (spooks, temper tantrums, etc...) where she herself sucks back and goes behind the bit, and these situations are really not very common at all - I mean this might happen once for a few seconds every three or four rides.  For another, I note that the draw rein is loose a lot of the time, which is what I was going for - to use it only for a few seconds, then drop it again.

The truly important thing that's coming out of all this is not just that Starbuck's learning to carry herself correctly and flex at the poll (although this is pretty awesome), but that I'm learning what it feels like for her to be actively using her hindquarters and "working through the back".  I never really understood this phrase but now I think I'm starting to - there's much more activity (and it's harder to ride!) and I can truly feel the energy coming up from the hind legs, bounding through the back and topline and then cycling back down to my hands through the reins.  And now that I can feel it, I can ask for, identify and reward it promptly and accurately.

And best of all, she's so damn fun to ride these days!  And I really do get the feeling that she herself is enjoying it more now that she's realizing just how strong she is.

A Pretty Boring Update

So since I haven't posted in so long I wanted to at least leave my thoughts on the last few rides I've had with Starbuck, I think we're really making a lot of progress but I'm not 100% comfortable with how we're making it (think auxiliary reins and spurs).  But I've put an expiration date on the auxiliary reins at least (after March I won't use them anymore) and honestly if one month of artificial aids will solve years of incorrect posture, I'll be pleased as pie.  I'm sure that plenty of folks have the talent and experience to show a green horse how to move correctly without any auxiliary reins or whatever, but I'm pretty sure by now I'm not one of them (yet!).

Saturday 07/03: Lesson with Daniela, rode with makeshift chambon and spurs.  Worked on neck flexions, lots of in-hand shoulder in.  Daniela rode Starbuck at trot and walk (afterwards she was a dream to ride!).  Taught Starbuck to lower her head when I flex her head to the inside by turning my hand (think about holding a mug, then turning the mug sideways to look at your nails).  When she lowers her head, I scratch her withers with my index fingers.  Did lots of transitions and really got the idea of how we should be working.  Lots of trot - canter transitions, and towards the end of the session she was cantering with her head held low.  And no spooks!  At the end of the session Dani taught me the aids for in-hand pirouettes.

Sunday 08/03: Rode with Amanda and Virginia, practicing reprise "Alevín Equipos".  Warmed up with in-hand flexions and shoulder in, then put on the chambon thingy and mounted up.  Rode with spurs again.  Spent the first 20 minutes or so working on my own in walk (shoulder in on a circle then leg yielding diagonally in the other direction), trot and canter attempting to repeat the exercises from the previous day and going over some ground poles at the trot.  Then followed Amanda and Virginia riding the reprise - it's funny how Starbuck's got loads of impulsion when she's trying to catch up with other horses!  Trot was a dream, but canter was very bucky as she wanted to turn it into a race.  We managed to make our transitions in the right places though and even rode by the bar several times without any drama.  Cooled down on a short walk outside the stableyard.

Monday 09/03: Got to the barn late after work, longed with only a rope halter focussing on lowering her head, keeping her moving without constant nagging (Parelli circle game), activating her hindquarters and doing lots of transitions.  Did a few rounds over Marina's yellow and blue cushions and then stacked a few up for a really low jump.  Fairly intense longeing session and I ended by trying out her ground-tying skills while returning the cushions to their place but she spooked with the cushion sounds and raced around the arena a couple of times before I could calm her down enough to stop - I think she was a little afraid of the longe line streaming along behind her.  But we just cooled down for a little longer at a walk and she forgot all about it.

Tuesday 10/03: Went to the barn at lunchtime (yay!), did 15 minutes of in-hand warmups with flexions, shoulder in, turn around the shoulders and then worked on pirouettes - got a few solid steps in each direction.  Put on the chambon (no spurs today) and mounted, worked on more flexions (both to the side and vertical) at the halt and then trying to transition to walk without her throwing her head up.  Shoulder in in walk, then transitions to trot once again trying for her not to throw her head up.  A little heavy at the trot today so after a few minutes I rode several trot - canter - trot transitions to wake her up a little, which helped.  Leg yield in trot across the diagonal, not bad to the left but a little more yucky to the right.  Letting the rein out so she can stretch downwards in trot and then transitioning to canter, but after several tries to not go near a certain fencepost followed by a gnarly spook I pushed her into a more powerful and shorter canter for several 20 meter circles followed by a nice strong trot in both directions.  In the end I let the rein out for a little more stretching and cooled down in walk working on the "head down" aid, halt transitions and a few more flexions.

Saturday 14/03: Rode with the chambon and without spurs - probably because we were in a class setting again with other horses ahead of us Starbuck was really moving along without me having to nag much at all.  We did a lot of flexions at the walk and trot in the class, then did some "carrousel" work where I rode side by side with Cinthya and the gelding she was riding.  This is really hard at first because you have to keep the same rhythm as the other horse+human and keep your eye on them the whole time to make sure you start and end exercises at the same time.  But once Starbuck got over having to work right! next! to! another horse (ears pinned, eyes rolling, butt wandering all over the place) and we got into the swing of things we had a really good time.  It was a highly satisfying ride :)

Sunday 15/03: Went on a trail ride with friends Cinthya, Amanda and Virginia - Starbuck really behaved well and didn't spook much more than the other horses.  With Daniela's OK, I took her out without the chambon and she kept her head down most of the time (it helped that she was trying to snag grass and daisies along the way).  We changed position with the rest of the riders pretty constantly and worked on some leg yielding and shoulder-in back and forth across the path along the way.  A couple of almond trees had even left some of their blooms on for us to enjoy.

Monday 16/03: It had rained all morning so I just longed her with only the rope halter in the arena at the top of the parking lot (the sand is more like really fine gravel and doesn't get slippery like the regular arena).  She was really full of beans especially when her friend Coco who was grazing nearby got taken back to her stall.  So lots of bucking and racing and bunny-rabbit galloping until with changes of direction and gait and speed I got her attention back and we could get back to work.  But honestly it just wasn't the right day for "precision" work so mostly just did lots of trot-canter transitions and worked on keeping her attention, then ended with lots of changes of direction (this ends up being like a quarter pirouette if we do it right) and some shoulder-in at the walk.

Today 17/03: Starbuck got shod this morning and I try not to work with her when she's just been shod.  So just went out to the stable on my lunch break, fed the cats and let her graze in a makeshift paddock for a while while I watched her.  What a great way to disconnect from the office.

Got new boots by the way!  They're synthetic, we'll see how they do.  But they were 50% off! :D

Weekly Update

Lots of stuff to catch up on here, I took last Thursday and Friday off and was too lazy all weekend to write any of it down.  So here goes:

I had a nice trail ride last Sunday (not yesterday but a week before), this time neither of Starbuck's "big sisters" (best friend Coco and next-door neighbor Melyne) came along so I was a little worried about how she'd do.  But she really behaved quite well and only got a little out-of-control when we were trotting homewards - I think the adrenaline of trotting plus heading home plus lunchtime plus traffic was a little too exciting for her.  But nothing more challenging than a few more spooks than we had heading out, so I think we're really progressing on the trail rides.  Also without meaning to we ended up wearing parcheesi colored t-shirts, which was fun.

Rode on my own on Monday - Starbuck worked extremely well and was an absolute pleasure to ride.  We did a figure of eight exercise where we cantered around the extremeties and then transitioned to a trot on the diagonal, then back to a canter on the new lead.  It obviously wasn't easy for her but I didn't realize how hard it must have been until afterwards when I realized that she had sweat quite a bit on her hindquarters and not at all anywhere else. So I think this will be a good exercise to add to my toolbox for those days when she has energy to burn, and remember not to do too many repetitions.

Tuesday I had a normal lesson which I don't remember very well what we did, but it went tolerably well.  Wednesday I came down with the cold that ate Chicago and stayed in bed all day, but Thursday I was well enough to get out to the stable in the morning, which was fabulous since Marina had the time and inclination to give me a lunge lesson.

What an incredible lesson - after a few "laps" she told me to close my eyes and tie my reins to the saddle so they wouldn't get in the way and I did the rest of the lesson with no hands.  I've never ridden much without hands - a few canter laps with my arms up like airplane wings going "wheeee" is about the extent of my expertise so this was pretty new for me.  And boy was it a terrific experience!  Without the weight of my arms pulling my shoulders forward I very naturally reverted to the correct "heels - hips - shoulders" vertical position and found myself way more balanced.  And keeping my eyes closed really made me rely on feel alone to stay with Starbuck's movements, although I had to peek from time to time to keep from getting dizzy.  It was really liberating and I was able to "memorize" the sensation so that I can try to duplicate the same position when I'm riding the rest of the time.

Note - this is NOT the position to duplicate ;-}

So we worked on rising trot with "cycling" motion in arms and legs which is awkward at first but really helps you get in touch with the oscillating movement of the horse's back instead of just your standard up-down, sitting trot without stirrups working on letting my hips be carried forward, not backward, by Starbuck's movement and then walk and trot without stirrups letting my legs swing forward and backward once again in reaction to the horse's trunk swinging back and forth.    Finally we did some canter - now with stirrups since at this point I was a little dizzy - but once again it was wonderful to close my eyes, hold out my arms and focus only on following Starbuck's movement.  Imagine that - cantering on my crazy little filly with no hands and eyes closed!  It's the closest I've felt to being a centaur since I've grown up.

Things I learned during this lesson which are important to remember in the future:

• I have a lot more innate balance than I thought I did.
• The weight in my arms draws my shoulders forward.  If I keep my elbows parallel to my body, I will naturally sit up straighter than if I move them farther forward.
• If I allow Starbuck's movement to push my hips forward naturally instead of pushing them back, she moves better and I stay in balance more easily.
• I could tell when I was on the right diagonal at a rising trot going to the right with my eyes closed, but going to the left I wasn't able to feel it as easily.
• Going to the left at a sitting trot, where I felt more comfortable and safer, Marina pointed out that I wasn't letting my inside hip swing forward as loosely as going to the right, where I felt a little bouncy and off-balance.

Then fairly successful lessons on Friday and Saturday - Friday we had a bit of a runaway moment where I lost my stirrups, kept jabbing Starbuck in the side when trying to recover them and finally figured out that since obviously I had been cantering around without stirrups for a while, that stopping, not getting my stirrups back, was the # 1 priority.  Another lesson for the future.  I also got a new bridle on Friday - the one I've been using is the perfect length for the hackamore but a little too short for the bits.  It was 40% off at a tack store which is closing and is real pretty - black with white stitching.  Also, this way I don't have to change from bit to hackamore every other time I ride ;-)

Saturday was kind of rainy and windy and all of the horses, not just Starbuck, were kind of antsy.  She was definitely rarin' to go - I had to throw my crop away after a few minutes - and wasn't completely comfortable with her new bridle (it has a noseband, which I've never used in the past) but I did my best to keep her attention on me and in comparison with some of the other horses, she was actually pretty calm.  Even so, I was surprised when one of the other students mentioned how well Starbuck was behaving - I guess we must be doing something right if we at least look like we have things under control.

Which brings us to yesterday, which was superwindy.  What with the wind and me not feeling like getting into a fight with Starbuck, I decided not to ride.  You gotta pick your battles.  Anyhow after cleaning her paddock we spent an hour "sharing territory" while I re-read part of an Aubrey-Maturin novel, then I longed her for a while on the scary side of the arena working on lots of transitions.  These are things I always say I'll do when I have some free time and I think it's good for her to have some exercise without me weighing her down from time to time.  Sometimes it's hard to believe that we've finally reached the point where we do much more ridden work and have to make time for groundwork - even a year ago I wasn't sure we'd ever reach that goal.  Yay progress!

Back to Business

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I last checked in here!  Between my frustration with Starbuck's lameness and injuries (more on that in a minute), my determination to spend every waking moment at the stable once she was better and my husband giving me a Kindle as an anniversary gift, I think I've cracked open my laptop maybe 5 times in all that time.  Anyhow I'm back and though I imagine I'll be a little more sporadic in my updates than before I owe it to myself and to Starbuck to keep up our journal.  So here's a brief re-cap of what we've been up to.

After several weeks of on-again off-again lameness, Starbuck finally seemed to be somewhat recovered so one fine day I tacked her up and took her out to the arena to longe her with her saddle and bridle on in hopes of riding her that day or the next.  After a few minutes of longeing I could see that she was moving really well and I brought her in to the middle of the circle for a rest and a head rub.  So she was standing there resting, then she put her head down to rub her leg with her muzzle, then she stepped in a loop of the longe line and before I could get her foot out of the loop something happened to majorly spook her (who knows what), her head went up and away she ran.  Since her leg was caught in the line I had to let her go and pray for the best, but the arena gate was open and she ended up running all the way to her paddock, where I found her grazing nervously.  But when I checked her out I saw that at some point the bit had gotten pulled against her cheek, giving her a nasty cut about an inch from the bars of her mouth.  And when I opened her mouth to take her bridle off I saw that the bit had also ripped nearly halfway through her tongue.

I can't even begin to tell you how bad I felt.  Here I have this creature who I'm trying to build up a foundation of trust with and the very equipment I'm using not only brings discomfort and pain, but actual injury.  I felt like I wasn't worthy of the responsability of even having a horse, not to mention training one.  I wrapped my arms around her neck and sobbed my apologies into her mane.  I came back to reality when she started nuzzling my pockets looking for cookies and realized that as serious as the problem was, she seemed to be holding it together better than I was.  So I wiped my face and called the vet, who calmed me down by telling me it wasn't an uncommon injury or even a particularly serious one and that the mouth heals much more quickly than other parts of the body, then prescribed a change in diet (no grain or anything with small particles which could get stuck in the wound) and daily rinses with medicated mouthwash until the wound closed.

So Starbuck was on soaked pellet food, straight up straw without any seed heads, alfalfa and bran mashes and had the best-smelling breath at the stable for a month (the vet was right, she healed up way faster than I expected).  She also got a good two weeks more of rest before I even tried to longe her again, so I spent lots of time grooming her and taking lessons on some of Marina's horses.  Finally, I got rid of the bit in lieu of a hackamore and worked her from the ground for about a week before saddling her up and seeing whether she would let me ride her for the first time in two months.  And guess what?  It took a few minutes to review the basic cues and aids and I could definitely tell that she'd lost some conditioning, but she didn't act up at all and even seemed to be happy to have me riding her again.  I honestly think she missed having a routine and being able to work off some steam without having to go into panic mode to do so.

Anyhow about two weeks have gone by since that first ride and I'm starting to think that Starbuck made some kind of seminal change over her "summer vacation".  She's calmer, more focused, more relaxed and overall tends to behave like a total professional both on the ground and under saddle.  Since we've been back on track, we've ridden in the wind and rain, started working trotting poles into almost every class, habitually ride on the scary side of the arena, are starting some lateral work (leg yielding along the arena wall) and have even gotten to canter (on purpose) a couple of times.  We've only had one "electrical" day brought on by some sudden chilly and windy weather, but even then her spooks were highly controllable and I was more worried about her posture (that head kept going up) than me falling off.  I know we'll still have our bad moments, but I think we've scaled another plateau - one where I feel safe riding her no matter what the weather or her mood is like and where we can work on figuring out a training routine which is enjoyable and productive for both of us.

So here's to giving your horse (and yourself) a break every now and then, to bitless bridles and to more conscious groundwork.  And maybe to writing just a little more often.

Sunday

Today I saddled up Chico, a former trot racehorse, and decided to get some riding practice, so my friends Virginia, Carolina and I (I actually just realized what a coincidence their names are) rode out to explore the country roads which wind through the almond and orange groves surrounding the stable grounds.  The weather was gorgeous and we had a really nice ride, culminating in a wild race across a nearby field.  Man, can that horse trot!  We were already going faster than Carolina's horse before Chico even broke into a gallop!  It was lots of fun and I was glad to be back in the saddle, and although I kept wishing I was with Starbuck but I guess that time will come soon enough...

After we got back to the stable I took Starbuck out to do a little longeing and get her a little more used to the bridle-- I used the rope halter for so long that she actually responds better to the halter than to the bridle.  So we worked on longeing and then on lateral flexion, just giving to light pressure on the bit to the right and left.  We also did a little porcupine game to practice moving first her hindquarters and then her shoulders away and finally we even achieved a few sidepasses by combining the two cues... fantastic!  All in all it's been a really positive weekend... just what I needed after a couple of weeks of what seemed like a frustrating lack of results.

I actually have read many many times that often horses will get worse shortly before getting better, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised... also last week was heat week so it was normal for her to be a little PMSsy.  Anyway, here's a video of us working today (thanks Carolina!!!), enjoy!

Videos

So here are the videos from yesterday's photo session, it was the first time I ever longed or led her with the line attached to the bit.  So the first is standard longeing, first with the line hooked to the rope halter and then with the line attached right to the bit.  The second is working a little on lateral flexion and just getting her used to giving her head to the right and the left when she feels pressure from the reins.

On the Bit

So this evening I took out the bridle again and this time Starbuck didn't seem worried by it.  She lowered her head on cue like I taught her to so I held the bridle over her head with my right hand between her ears and used my left hand to stick my thumb in the corner of her mouth.  Then when she opened her mouth I slipped the bit right in and flipped her ears into the headstall.  Piece of Cake!

To start with, I put the bridle on OVER her normal web halter, took the reins off and attached the lead line to the halter so she could get the feel of wearing and working in it without the risk of hurting her mouth the first day (I didn't have much time since it's getting dark earlier and I wasn't sure how frisky she was going to be).  Then we went down to the arena and longed for a little while: she did great!  I can tell that she's getting much more responsive to my vocal cues and when leading is much more attentive to whether I'm walking or stopping (in otherwords whether she should be walking or stopping).  So here's a video of us longeing (sorry if it makes anyone seasick, I was holding the camera and the line in the same hand).

By the way I can also tell how our relationship is changing, even though she's becoming a lot more responsive and learning a lot I feel like she kind of resents that our relationship is not all about cuddles and playtime.  Sometimes she shows this by acting out and being a little rebellious and other times she simply walks off while I'm petting or grooming her in her paddock... It's also near impossible to get her to voluntarily come up to me and stick her nose in the halter (she used to do this).  I need to remember to spend at least a couple of days a week doing stuff which is fun for her (playtime with other horses, grooming, grazing walks) and also pay more attention to the training she enjoys to try to maximize those tasks and blend them in with the stuff she doesn't like so much (like longeing).

For anyone interested in learning more about bridling a green or hard to bridle horse I recommend this video from a guy named Cody McArthurs, aside from the bit used and the chinstrap (if you use a D-Ring snaffle the chinstrap is not as important although if I see that bit sliding around I'll definitely start using one) it's the same method I used to bridle Starbuck.

Shopping

Today I went to get the bit I ordered, it's a D-Ring Snaffle with copper rollers and it has a nice feel to it.  I also got a Spanish style bridle this weekend, so I greased it up, attached it all and took off the noseband so it would be easier to put it on Starbuck the first few times and this is the result:

I personally think it looks pretty good!  Today I started just getting her used to it being rubbed on her face and neck, tomorrow I'll try to put it on her again (she was pretty skittish about it).  If all goes well, I'll lead her a little bit with it and then plan to longe her with the line attached to a halter over the bridle for the first time.  We'll see how it goes.

I also dewormed Starbuck again today with Maximec, it's about two weeks early but I wanted to deworm her before her winter coat came in.  She behaved really well and I think she actually liked the way it tasted... let's hope it keeps going so well every time.

She's lost another tooth, this one's the upper right encisor (the first was the lower left encisor).  The equine dentist is coming next week... that'll be a new experience!