Epiphany?

I think I found our problem. We have been trying a new joint support program as per Dr. Bob: a monthly IM injection and an IV shot of polyglycan every 3 months. He thought it might be more affordable and offer similar or better results than our Adequan regime. We're about a month and half in.

And I don't think it's doing a damn thing.

Solo was rushing and on his forehand. He could not step up under himself and was bearing down on the bridle. The whole left side of his body is locked tighter than it has been in a long time.

I know this horse. After almost five years, I know how he feels, I know his mind and body inside and out. And I know that I should listen to my gut, which is telling me we should go back to the Adequan.

I'll chat with Dr. Bob tomorrow and see what his thoughts are...

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Gritted Teeth

It's always been a problem.  Solo locks the left side of his jaw and just. won't. let. go.  Meanwhile I descend into frustration and the whole left side of my body takes on the approximate suppleness of an I-beam.

Sigh.

So, not the best ride tonight. I'm not sure why. I've been working hard with the chiro and feel much MUCH better in my own vertebral sections. Solo is muscle-y and had been going along nicely.

Could it be the cut on his jaw is irritated despite the super-fabulous horsey band-aid I made to protect it from bit rubbing?

Exhibit A at left.

Could it be he's still a bit stiff from the 3 hour ride in the woods on Sunday picking our way through ankle-grabbing, bent over pine yearlings that exasperated the both of us? I gave him Monday and Tuesday off to rest...

It could be both. It could be neither. It could be something else entirely among the 1,208 variables I can think of off the top of my head. I don't suppose it matters too much -- although perhaps just knowing could abate my own knotted jaw muscles. The jaw thing is something that's always been an issue: he clenches, I clench back, then we both just hang there and growl at each other. So when it rears its (ugly ugly) head, I get mad that I have not yet defeated this persistent monster.

I need to let go, take a deep breath, keep the frustration locked in its closet, and use the lateral work to soften him back up. Of course, remembering to do that AT THE TIME is the challenge I continue to fail. Grrr.

Focus on the positive: after every crap ride comes a good ride. I will be eagerly awaiting its appearance tomorrow. I need someone standing next to the arena just chanting, "Supple the horse, supple the horse, supple the horse..." Maybe then I will get it through my thick, thick skull.

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It's Good To Be Home

Yes, I am back from the family vacation. And of course, the first thing I did when dropped off at my house was to drop the suitcase on the floor, feed the cats, then leap in the truck and hightail it to the farm. Where Solo consequently got hugged to within an inch of his life and stuffed with treats in my effort to reverse my advanced case of Equine Withdrawal Syndrome.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with EWS. It strikes down the horse owner during any extended period of separation from equine company. Symptoms include headache, nausea, irritability, fatigue, loss of appetite, excessive sighing, rampant daydreaming, and moon blindness. Or at least most of those. The only treatment is deep breaths of horse ambiance.

Last night was my first ride back in the game. Also my first ride post-hock-injections, which Dr. Bob brought out to us on the 17th.

Damn, that horse felt good. I always question whether I am doing the right thing pre-injections, but then, when I feel the change, I KNOW I did the right thing and it becomes worth every penny.

And you know what? He was so excited that I was back playing with him. It was pretty darn cute. As soon as I asked for trot, he pushed off with his back end into a forward, swinging trot, came down onto the bit with his little ears working like mad, and I could just feel glee (no, he did not sing any Top 40 hits). I laughed out loud when I asked for a bigger trot and he popped into a big, rolling canter. I let him grab a nice rhythm and rode it while we both giggled.

I have never before felt him just enjoy a dressage school so much. He was nearly bursting at the seams with try and energy and it was quite simply joyous.

What a lovely homecoming gift from my most beloved friend.

Do you have any Thanksgiving horsey adventure tales to tell?

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I Must Interject...

Because today, I am very happy and very very sad.

Very happy because the saddle fitter worked on Solo's saddles for two hours yesterday and they feel better.  We also jump schooled tonight and I actually remembered to use David's tips from our last jumping lesson and Solo jumped very well. 

Very very sad because yesterday, our BO's lovely young Thoroughbred, Ben, colicked and went into the clinic in a lot of pain. Early yesterday evening, he was put down. I had a feeling he wouldn't be coming back when I saw him yesterday; I stopped next to my truck, turned around, and walked up the hill to rub his face and give him a pat before he left. Now I'm glad I did. We will miss his charming face and curious inquiries into every barn activity. At only 4.5 years old, he was bursting with potential and enthusiasm and had an excellent mind for work and life.

Go out and hug all your ponies -- I am constantly reminded that each day with our special partners is a wonderful gift and not a single one of those days is a guarantee. Cherish every minute and take the time to just enjoy their friendship. Even the toughest athletes among them are such fragile creatures when the ugly colic monster rears its head. All we can do is try to stuff ourselves so full of their love that it will carry us through...

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Splashy!!

When it hasn't been hot, it's been raining. Sometimes it's hot AND raining. Pick your poison.

BO has been hankering to take Ben, her baby OTTB out XC schooling since he's never seen anything other than the odd log. When she gave me sad doe eyes, I gave in, as she needed Solo to be the chaperone to convince young Padi'wan Ben that the water complex will not suck him in and drown him.  I'm a sucker for the sad eyes, but at least I'm a helpful sucker.

Pro: It wasn't hot. Con: It was raining. But hey, we're eventers, we gallop on! The owner of the XC course was out there digging a new Training/Prelim ditch/trakhener (oh MAN, I can't wait till that's done!) in the rain and waved and hollered when she saw us: "Y'all are REAL eventers!" Hahahahha, yes we are!  And we thanked her profusely for all her hard work, because this place has phenomenal footing, even in the drizzle.

Solo was just THRILLED about being the Steady Eddie: It's raining on me. Which I hate. And I'm just STANDING here, WTF is the point of that? And did I mention I am getting rained on?

Solo:  Hurry up, kid, it's only a stupid puddle.  
Ben: OMG, OMG, it's SPLASHY and WET and OOOOOO, it's FUN and I'm a horse GENIUS and OMG, I'm so BRAVE and this is AWESOME!

Solo: I'm soo impressed. Really. And I'm still getting rained on.

Solo also shared his great wisdom on banks: See, you just go off. No biggie. Well, actually, you leap off, but for some reason we are walking today. My mom is weird, but then, what's new?
Ben: Ohhhhhh....

Ben, to his credit, took it all in stride and had the time of his short little life. And Solo finally got to move on to his reason for living: JUMPY JUMPY! But, in his opinion, wayyyy not enough gallopy gallopy.  Hey, betcha didn't know you could shower and ride at the same time!

And of course, what good's a schooling day without GALLOPY SPLASHY!  Hey lady, shorten your damn stirrups already...

And we worked a little on our bank rhythm, including a tricky new line I hadn't tried before, which is drop into water, about three or four strides in the water, and then jump out. Wow, steering is HARD when you slip your reins!! Here's a little bank tip though, that we learned from David O. Jumping off a bank consists of two motions: (1) Your horse rocks back and jumps up and out. You NEED to stay with his motion and ride this like a regular show jump.

(2) Now your horse drops down and HERE you let your hips open as he drops underneath you.  Slip your reins so you don't catch his mouth and be ready to follow his motion as he gallops on.  Keep your leg wrapped around him and be prepared to add leg because the water will drag him and slow him down.

The goal, of course, being to get the optimal maximum splashiness as you hit the water so you can rinse that sweat off your face.

Oh, c'mon, more splashy, you can do better that!!

I said MORE SPLASHY!

Ahhh, that's more like it!  Bonus points if you can make faces as awesome as that at the same time.

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Quite The Quandary

How the bloody heck am I supposed to fit up my horse when the heat index is forecast to be 105 from tomorrow through Sunday????

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Fitting Up

There is no doubt Solo lost some fitness during his month-long break. I still don't regret it for a second because that weariness that hung about him in May is gone. But it does mean that conditioning is our top order of business at the moment.

Our first jump school in a month was on Saturday morning -- and my boy felt so good, he was flipping his nose in sheer delight. I think he would have jumped all day if I had let him, but his panting lungs betrayed him. A bareback hack on the pasture hills on Monday, some transition work on Tuesday, and a short (HOT!) session in the vienna reins tonight complete his week. Before I hooked up the vienna reins, I longed him on the side of a hill at the walk and trot to see if he could balance himself and maintain the rhythm downhill (he did!).  The fitness will come back quickly; I can already tell a difference from Saturday to today in aerobic capacity. Per Dr. Bob, 4-6 weeks will bring us back to peak, which would work out just right, should we decide to enter a Horse Trial I've been eyeing at the end of August.

On a side note, did you know that probably 90% of the time I type "horse," it comes out "hores"? Helluva typo.

What have you been doing with your horses this summer? Hitting your local circuits despite the sweat factor? Enjoying long sessions at the end of the hose? Swimming in the pasture pond? Gearing up towards fall goals? Share your stories!!

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Back To Work

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, IT'S HOTTTTTTT.  Weather Underground tells me the heat index is a sticky 93 degrees, but I think they lie.  It's at least 304.   Haha, you can tell that picture is old, Solo has a mane!

Solo has had three luxurious weeks off to let any stress injuries or sore spots heal and to just chill out. He feels good, despite losing a little condition. I got back on him this morning to just trot a few hills and such. We nearly melted into little puddles of humidity-stricken goo, but he moved out n-i-c-e. Breaks are good.  But it's time to go back in training.  As best we can without cooking ourselves.

Just a few summer reminders: keep an eye on respiration, a hot horse can start puffing and descend into heat stress faster than you think. Don't be shy about throwing cool water onto and into your horse immediately; horses coming off Rolex cross country get ice water thrown on them before they even stop moving. The important thing is to SCRAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE. Water just sitting on a horse's skin traps heat and raises the body temperature. And don't forget to hydrate YOU.

Remember to check those little spots you don't normally brush for ticks or fungus: under the jaw, between the front and hind legs, up under the flanks. I found some itchy funk under Solo's jaw the other day, he nearly moaned with pleasure when I scratched all the bits off.

We're trying out some new gear that we'll have reviews for, including a sample of one of our lovely readers' new product, an electrolyte treat. Will it pass the Solo-Food-Snob taste test???

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A Bun In The Oven

HA!  It's not what you think.  I am a vehement non-breeder (both pet and human) -- I just happen to feel like a bun sitting in an oven because it's SO DAMN HOT outside.  Hence why I have been remiss in providing you with endlessly entertaining posts (just lie and say they are, it makes me feel better).

Solo is on his post-spring-event-season break, which perfectly coincided with when it got hot anyway, so my motivation plummeted. I got on him Tuesday night just to do a little bit of arena work -- he's pretty much had a week and a half off except for one short trail ride. Before the break, Solo just felt tired in the back end and was schlumping around. Tuesday, he felt great, much looser and more forward after having time to just chill. Seems like Dr. Bob was right yet again.

I don't think we'll really hit training full on for a bit still. Our next event is...I'm not sure when. There's a possibility of one in August but it would entail a drive I'm not keen on. We are DEFINITELY hitting Virginia Horse Trials in October. Perhaps we'll just hit the local dressage series a few time until then...

When we do resume training, I think we'll go for a slower, steadier approach. Solo really seems to do better with days of hacking or just chilling between each real work session. I will just have to really make sure I focus on keeping him fit with that stuff.

So our fall target, instead of the ATC's (sigh) will be Virginia. This will be when I will shoot to have Solo at his apex of fitness, yet rested and bright eyed. Then he can trickle off after that at a couple of schooling trials we have planned for November. It seems so far away, but summer's already in full swing; I have a feeling it will pounce on me quite unawares.

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Silly Videos And Schooling Attempts

First off, Solo wanted to send a wise look with his readers, with a little help from my best girl, Smokey.  Smokey is a 15 year old German Shepherd/Collie mix that we picked up from the pound at 8 weeks old.  She was one of my 4-H dogs, won all our showmanship and conformation classes, and has been a wonderful friend.  I can't believe she has been as healthy as she is, but that dog has never been sick or hurt a day in her life -- I told her I would keep feeding her as long as she promised to live forever.  Best. Dog. Ever. Although I do hate that I sound like an idiotic 15-year-old on videos. Cannot be helped, I suppose.



If you've glanced at our calendar, you know that Solo and I are off to a schooling horse trial this Sunday at a nearby farm. We won the Beginner Novice division here last fall, complete with bucket of goodies, so now I have been spoiled. Solo's jumped every jump which will be on our course, except for one, which is a white bench in a window frame that I don't believe will cause any problems. We have, I believe, conquered our liverpool issues, so the liverpool jump this organizer loves to place on the Novice stadium course should be a breeze. We've been schooling jumping widths up to about 4', so her equally beloved giant wide oxers ought to roll on by.

I feel as prepared as I can be. I would have liked to have another dressage lesson beforehand, but the budget put its foot down. Here is our final attempt at schooling our test this evening. Canine obstacles were provided free of charge. BO offers background commentary as my complimentary eyes on the ground, er, on the back of her horse. If you have any constructive suggestions, feel free to share!

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This Is How We Roll: Horse Boots

I have mentioned my personal addiction love for boots of all shapes and sizes. So I thought I'd share what Solo and I have settled on after years of trying and watching about everything out there.

I do not use boots for dressage schooling, except for front bell boots to protect his special shoes, because I don't like to heat up tendons if I don't have to.  For jump schooling, we use open front boots to protect the front tendons and galloping boots behind to ward off interference along with the standard front bell boots.  At a show, I will use hind ankle boots instead of galloping boots (lighter).  For XC, we always go all out:  bell boots all around, rear heavy duty galloping boots, super awesome N.E.W. sport boots up front.      

Tri-Zone bell boots

Bell Boots

I'm actually pretty happy with a cheapie lot of Roma double lock bell boots I purchased as a group of 8. The velcro is ridiculously grippy and it takes me both hands & some patience to get them off, but I use these for our turnout boots; they hold up surprisingly well. Not bad for $7.

For competition, we are stuck with a pair of Equilibrium Tri-Zone no-turn bell boots.   If by "no-turn" you mean "pretty-much-always-turn." They have the little knobby in the back, but it does basically nothing. Having ripped boots at a horse show, I had to pick some up at the tack tent and this is all they had, so I had to cough up about $30 for them, ugh. As a plus, they are very professional looking & durable; aside from being dirty, they are in impeccable shape despite several trips around XC & schooling & mud. I think we will be stuck with their turniness for a while, which is kind of annoying on a shaped boot.

When we run XC, I also put a pair of simple pull-ons on his back feet, just to protect from interference.  I picked them up for about $10, no complaints.

Hind Boots

Solo sports 2-strap Woofs behind

It's all Woof wear back here. For schooling, I adore my Woof All-Around galloping boot. I will buy these forever & ever. If the ones I have ever die. They are simple, single-lock, two strap velcro, usually on sale at Dover for around $30. I have never had them budge or give way. After about three years of use, they are worn, but still perfectly serviceable. They used to be used for competitions as well, so they've seen a XC course or two, until....

I found a pair of 5-strap Woof sport boots in the trash can while volunteering at an event. Silly rich people (these are $60 boots)...yay for me! They were in perfect shape except for a tiny rub on one edge. So now they are our competition boots due to their heavy duty construction, I have no worries that Solo is going to bash through them. On the downside, they are quite heavy & do not breathe at all, but they don't seem to absorb too much water either.

I also recently bought a pair of hind ankle boots for stadium jumping, my barn-mates all use them & I really liked their lighter weight & smaller design.  The galloping boots seemed like overkill for stadium and, again, I don't like to heat up those tendons!  I found a set of Moxie breathable neoprene boots on sale for about $28.  They come in fun colours & are super light.  NO, mine are NOT hot pink, of COURSE they are a lovely dark powder blue!!  I would give them only a moderate breathability rating -- the ankle pad breathes pretty well, but the strip around the cannon bone does not.   

Front Boots

In the past, I've ridden stadium in plain open front boots from Roma -- durable, fit well, and affordable (around $25ish).  Easy to clean, but like the Woofs, lined with neoprene so again, not so breathable.  Then I ride XC in some generic neoprene splint boots that I think I paid a whopping $12 for.  The splint boots are now disintegrating after three years of faithful service, so it was time to find a replacement (I'll keep the open fronts for stadium, but want the front of the leg protected for XC).

In my other boot post, I told you how I'd learned some startling statistics about boots & injury. I also learned that something like 80% of sporthorse injuries were to the lower front limbs. So I wanted to be sure that this time, I had the best protection I could find. I wanted breathability, lightness, & a serious tendon strike plate.

I ended up with these: the N.E.W Airoflow XC boot. Yes, I paid a ridiculous amount of money for them. I'm not telling, but I did get them on sale. I think because the labels are sewn on upside down. But I am hoping to get some serious years out of them. Oh, and I tried them tonight for the first time. And they are totally AWESOME.

The inside is some kind of techy impact foam.  But the material is a very open weave, not quite a waffle weave, but same concept.  When I took them off of Solo's legs after a sweaty dressage workout on a humid night, his legs were almost totally dry!!!!  The outside is a super tough looking nylon & the cannon is encased in a carbon fiber strike plate that is molded around the leg & padded with the foamy stuff.  Oh and the best part:  they are machine washable.  Now THERE'S practical design!

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Always Expecting The Worst

I have a new horse.  My mild-mannered Quarter Horse seems to have wandered off in the night.  In his place is a somewhat more brash and opinionated creature.  He is just as shiny as ever, but he relishes pushing around Jeff, his pasture mate, with pinned ears and bared teeth.  Instead of meekly submitting to something he doesn't want to do, he boldly states his own opinion, which may include kicking out in symbolic defiance.  There's a hint of arrogance that just wasn't there before.

Because I am, well, me, I quickly surmised the cause of Solo's Big Change. He most likely had a brain tumour and would be dead within the month. This was obviously the most rational and readily available explanation for this new horse at the end of my lead rope.

I presented this information to our most logical of friends, lifeshighway, sure that she too would be puzzled by this turn of events.

lh: "Hmmmm. Well, he's fitter now than he has been since you have had him. Horses often exhibit changes in personality when they reach a certain level of physical fitness."

Me: "Oh. Well, that would make sense too."

I may have a tendency to leap to extreme conclusions in a few...ok, many...situations.

But I think lifeshighway has hit the nail on its proverbial head. Solo is indeed fitter than he has ever been; he is sleek, muscular, and holding the perfect weight and his wind is much improved. I noticed a marked jump in base fitness after doing our two horse trials this spring and it has stayed in place throughout April and May. And the collective "they" say that horses do indeed develop an arrogant confidence of their own, a certain extra vim and vigor when they go from pasture puff to competitive athlete.

So, my horse is kind of a badass now.

And I think I kind of like it.

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Stupid Circles

Sweat is pouring down my face.

It's approximately 95% humidity, 85 degrees of drip-inducing goodness out.

I am torturing Solo with some dressage schooling, his absolute favourite. If horses are capable of sarcastic glares, I think I got one when I got on.

One of David O's favourite exercises to torment warm us up with is flexing the poll while cantering on a circle. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Ha. It's not.

I am determined to conquer this exercise. Solo's interpretation of this little gymnastic endeavor is to either fall on his inside shoulder while lifting his head around the turn, or pop his outside shoulder out and ignore the outside rein. If you do get close to convincing him to bend, he feels it is impossible to do so while maintaining forward motion.

We've had a little success on a previous ride under jumping tack. Which means I had spurs and the elevator bit so it was easier to use a light aid that Solo could not simply brace himself against and ignore. Today, though, I was in dressage gear, so we had the plastic boucher and no spur.

The canter transitions were going well and the rhythm was cadenced and Solo's back was soft. We began our circle in good balance and I closed it down to 15 m while asking him to flex.

The sweat burned my eyes and my completely non-breathable polo shirt from work that I had been too hurried to change out of clung to my back.

Hot, sweaty Solo said, "No. Flexing is hard" and tipped onto his forehand and leaned.

It happened. I was tired and my patience buckled. I made that fatal riding flaw, goaded by the ugly monsters of heat and fatigue: I got mad.

"Good god, horse, it's not that hard, just BEND!!" I tried to insist with gritted teeth and an outpouring of frustration to the hand on the rein and the heel in his side.

Solo, however, is unfailingly honest in his assessment of my riding finesse on a given day. And he got mad right back, as they unfailingly (and rightfully) do when we try to force our hand too fast. And flung his head up in the air in protest and skittered off to the side.

Immediately I knew that I had pushed too hard and with too little patience. I went back to a walk, letting Solo stretch and myself try and breathe and forget about the swampy air wrapped around my brain.

When I attained some semblance of calm and thought through what went wrong, I picked up a soft contact and asked for our cadenced canter back.

Solo was wary, one ear cocked back, warning me that I better be good up there, he wasn't going to take any crap. I asked him to come into the outside rein a little and asked for a single circle, just 20 m this time, one challenge at a time. As he bent around my leg, I sat up and asked for only a step or two of poll flexion to the inside. I did not force him to hold it very long as he is not there yet. He gave me my steps, I rode him out of the circle and let him continue straight and then we quit.

This is a lesson I must learn over and over and over. A lesson that I know, but that is so hard to stay true to when things get gritty. The moments when I lose it are rare indeed, but serve as an important reminder that impatience has no place in riding and training. If we find ourselves angry or frustrated, we MUST stop, breathe, and jump start our brains because that's where the solution is. Not in force, not in brawn.

We are making progress. We'll get there. As P says, one step at a time. If you get three good steps going one way, and three good steps going the other way, well, then that's six good steps. Maybe next time you'll get eight, then next time eleven and soon, you'll have a whole circle...

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Canters And Connections - Simplified

Work is crazy, I've been driving around doing field work all week, so hence no Solo updates.  But we've been doing a bit of schooling here and there.  Had a good dressage lesson late last week where we began talking more seriously about staying in the outside rein.  A concept I have known for a long time and understand in theory, but like just about every dressage concept, actually making it happen on a horse who doesn't know how is a whole 'nother basket of eggs.

So I played with it a little, using my usual amateur-rider method of trial and error (poor Solo).  As it happened, there was a discussion on the Chronicle of the Horse forums in the dressage folder about this very thing.  I read an interesting tip and decided to give it a try.  And voila!  We have outside rein connection and even MORE fun, after two years of really working on it, we finally have some lovely canter work coming out!

Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to know what this little outside rein tip is?  Would you like me not to be cruel and leave you hanging? I would never do such a thing...

It's just a little body imagery. Imagine your outside elbow is super-glued softly to your side with a contact to your horse's mouth. Take a feel with your inside rein and do some flexion/leg-yield/shoulder fore to ask him to move into that outside rein. He might resist it at first and pop his nose up in protest. But then he will give in the jaw and flex at the poll oh-so-loverly at which point you do not open your fingers but just do a little soft give from the elbow -- do NOT throw away that connection.

I summoned up my super glue and it really did help. Before, I would get the connection but give too much and lose it on the next stride. Focusing on keeping my elbow back and quiet and not giving away the rein allowed me to KEEP that connection and I could feel Solo THERE in the rein. The hardest part for me about really learning how to keep a horse on the bit has been realizing that you have to give them a bit to be on. In other words, if you just have limp reins and keep giving the bit away away away, there is nothing for them to move and push into, nothing to harness and direct the energy from the hindquarters.

This also helped in our canter work and at the end of our school, I did a 15 m circle at the canter to set him back on his hocks and lift his front end, as assigned by P, then did a lap of extend the stride on the long side, collect it on the short side.

OH! All of a sudden, my horse was a delight -- his back was up and strong and he lengthened and shortened his strides from behind as he should without falling on the forehand or losing the rhythm of the canter. I believe I was grinning stupidly as we walked down to the barn. I like to think that Solo was rather pleased with himself as well...

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Burnout Is Real

Yes, all work and no play makes Solo one very dull, crabby boy.  He pretty much gave me the horsey finger as I tacked him up the other day and then proceeded to stand there with his head hanging like I was going to take him out and beat him with a stick.  This, then, is the end result of working on dressage All. Winter. Long.

But there is an escape!  We have finally managed to work out how to access miles of wooded trails out the back gate.  And have been busy over the last few days trotting merrily along them.  Which Solo loves to the depths of his soul.  Now if only I could get him to translate that loose, back-swinging walk and forward, lifting trot to the arena!  But what I do get is a horse that returns to the gate at the end of our ride with bright eyes, pricked ears, and a spring in his step.

Moral:  even I, a HUGE proponent of getting horses OUT OF THE RING, can fall into the trap of working only on work, thinking it will improve one's horse in a continual, linear fashion, and forgetting that this causes one's horse to go insane with boredom.  Horses like routine, but they also like things that are fun, low pressure, and relaxing.  So give those ponies a break and head out to soak up some birdsong and spring sunshine.  Just don't forget the tick check afterwards...

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Ooooor Maybe Not

I should have known it seemed too easy!  My great and infallible plan to use Jeff as a fill-in for Solo's rest days has gone awry already!  Turns out the fellow who is supposed to start leasing Jeff in August (which is a good thing, as those two looove each other and go well together) is going to start riding him more this summer.  Dangit for my grand scheme though!  Although no one is riding Jeff right now, as he is lame yet again, having tweaked something during one of him many episodes of gallopingaboutpasturefornoapparentreason.

We have officially entered Solo's Season Of Enormous Sweating here, so the last few days we've just been taking it easy with lots of hosing and (EWEWEWEWEWEWEWEW!) picking off of ticks, to which Solo is of course allergic and gets big, crusty, disgusting lumps from.  Which let me just mention how much I HATE ticks.  And I hate touching them.  And seeing them.  And generally co-existing on the planet with them.  I know, I know, I'm supposed to be all Biology Girl and crap, but ya know, no one's a saint.  I'll just own up to it right now:  if ticks went extinct, I would gladly throw a huge party and toast their arachnid demise.  There, it's out in the open.  So tell the next tick you see to STAY THE HELL OFF MY HORSE or else face the rather pointed wrath of my hoofpick (pointed, HAHA, get it??!).

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Reality Bites. But Only Gently.

Lifeshighway correctly observed the other day as we were talking that I "ride the bejesus" out of my horse. I believe Solo is inclined to agree. He is tired these days. And I need to be realistic -- he is 14 and he does not recover from things as fast as he did four years ago. After several mountain rides and a tough horse trial, he needs some relaxing time. The tough part is balancing that need with our need to stay fit for two more spring horse trials. Now that he is only two miles from my house, I'm also riding him almost every day. Judging from the way he planted his head firmly in the stall corner yesterday, he finds that unacceptable.

Enter Jeff, aka Title One (left). He is an 8 year old Hanoverian/TB cross and the BO's Novice level eventer. However, BO has just acquired a lovely 4 year old OTTB prospect and now has two horses to keep up. And I suspect a solution to my problem is right in front of me. I can ride Jeff a couple times a week and give Solo time to chill out. I also get the opportunity to learn from another horse, who is so absolutely opposite from my red QH that I wonder how they even do the same sport.

Jeff is a lovely-moving horse, with a silky smooth canter that he can click along in for hours. He will jump 3'6" without even appearing to work. But Jeff is quirky. With a capital Q. And probably capital-all-the-other-letters too.

He was started by a cowboy who riled him up then cranked him into a super tight frame and forced him through his paces. Result: irreversible damage to his body and mind. BO acquired him as a 3 or 4 year old and has worked hard ever since to try and soothe his fried nerves. Jeff is sweet as the day is long, but once out of the pasture, I rarely see the underlying worry leave his eye. To say he is sensitive is an understatement -- he will sometimes jump just because you touch him.

I sat on him for the first time the other day. From watching BO ride him, I knew he was a tough and unconventional ride. He doesn't like contact and has a hard time, due to conformation, really packaging himself; he prefers the longer, looser hunter outline. But I had no idea HOW tough he was till I landed on his back.

You can't ride this horse like a normal horse; applying any pressure in his mouth just results in either being ignored or tension. If you don't have every single muscle in your body soft and relaxed, forget any roundness in your trot work. Bending appears to require some level of magic I do not yet have.

In short, Jeff is a huge challenge for me and I think he has a lot to teach me. I am excited and at the same time a bit unsure if I will surmount it. But he will allow Solo some much needed breathers and help out BO while allowing me to still see my horse every day and keep my butt in the saddle with no extra driving. It's been a long time since I have regularly worked a horse besides my own...I have some figuring out to do!

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Always Listen To Your Gut. And Your Horse.

This one is for all y'all out there like me -- trying to bring a horse along without 50 gazillion dollars, reading articles about all these successful riders who never seem to have any real issues, and getting worn out from constantly smacking yourself in the forehead wondering why your horse endeavors just can't seem to progress that smoothly.

So Saturday was a gorgeous 75 degree, sunny, low humidity, dream of a spring day. I thought since we were leaving Saturday evening to head down to the mountains to camp, it would be nice to get another light jump school in. I hesitated a little (here's that smart lil' gut chiming in) -- I just jumped Solo on Wednesday so I thought, hmmm, is that overdoing it? But I convinced myself I wouldn't work him that hard, it would be fine.

We'd been working pretty hard on our dressage Thurs and Fri, practicing those canter transitions (still improving nicely, yay!) and some lateral work. As I warmed up Saturday morning, Solo stepped out nicely, but I could tell over our warm-up crossrail, he was feeling a bit tired and maybe a little sore. I pointed him at our gymnastic line of four jumps. And he stoppped soundly in front of the first one -- which from him I KNOW is a clear statement of No, thank you ma'am, I am tired and sore and not up to the hard work that is this gymnastic.

Ah, but I should have listened. Folks, it really IS ok, to do something else and come back another day sometimes. But instead, I stubbornly clung to some rhetoric that said I had to do this RIGHT NOW.

We came back to it again, he jumped the first X but stopped at the bounce vertical after it. Again, clearly telling me Lady, I have warned you that I am not up to this today. Again, I do not listen -- I lower the jumps and insist on being stubbon.

It should come as no surprise that the next time through, he jumped the first two in a sort of lurching fashion which threw me a little off balance, then spun out at the third one, neatly depositing me on the ground. Which by the way, also reinforced why I am the helmet nazi as I landed on my back and felt my head hit the ground with a soft thunk. Woulda hurt a lot more without that helmet on there. As Courtney King-Dye can tell you, if she ever gets to tell anyone anything again -- she is STILL in need of all the good karma you can send and still unable to speak or do much after fracturing her skull when a horse fell in the dressage ring with her. Like many dressage riders, she wore no helmet. Being a beautiful, talented rider sadly cannot save you from the fact that falls and horses are inevitable partners.

I grumbled and cursed but climbed back on, mostly unhurt aside from a few pulled muscles. However, it appeared I was still unable to learn even after being whacked on the head, so I tried that stupid gymnastic AGAIN. Pretty much same result, including landing on the ground AGAIN, despite some fairly impressive dangling and clawing in attempt to stay on that really only resulted in MORE pulled muscles.

At this point, I am more stubborn and idiotic than Satan's own mule, so I climb back on again and do the damn gymnastic again. This time, we do make it through, although Solo is jumping flat and hard, which means he is definitely tired. We do a couple single jumps, to make it positive and quit there.

Did I accomplish anything aside from making sure that Sunday and today, I limp around in astonishment that I cannot use any of my extremities without pain? No, I doubt it.

I did finally manage to learn something from it though: ALWAYS LISTEN TO YOUR HORSE. Solo is honest and generous but his body has limits and he tried hard to tell me that I was asking for too much. Even my gut knew that I should take it easy that day. Fortunately, pulled muscles and bruised bums will heal fairly quickly (but dear God, they sure hurt more as you get older, owwwwwww....) and I have no ego to bruise, so we'll be back on track shortly.

So don't feel alone next time you have a REALLY BAD riding day -- we all fall down and we all make bad calls and the best we can do is examine them and learn what NOT to do next time!

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Yes, Yes It DID Work

Because I know you have been up all night wondering...so DID it really stick?  Did the draw rein lesson actually teach Solo what I wanted him to do during his transitions?  Would it carry over to a draw-rein-less ride, where there is no possibility of backup should the head flinging return?

Because I know the DQ's were waiting eagerly for a report once I removed the evil, awful, horse-ruining, shortcut-producing, bad-rider-indicating draw reins of torture and incorrectness.  (Was that melodramatic enough for ya?)

IT TOTALLY FREAKING WORKED!

Blogger editor, on the other hand is not. Working. By choosing to ignore my keystrokes half the time, which may result in my hurling my laptop while screaming curses at a program that does not give one whit for my mental anguish.

The same, happily, cannot be said of our ride, where, after doing some brief trot work (at a pace closely equivalent to that of a sleeping snail, for some reason), I asked, with a deep breath and a lot of hope, for a canter. The transition was a little bit sloppy, but Solo definitely was concentrating on trying to do it right and did not AT ANY TIME offer to fling his nose in the air to make things easier!

Just to make sure, I changed directions and tried again and practically giggled while praising him as he kept his nose down on the bit and stepped into a balanced canter!

Oh, happiness IS a successful horsey breakthrough moment!

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Tools Bring Success

Solo's always had a habit, when picking up the canter, of flinging his head in the air and lurching into it.  It's annoying.  And dressage judges don't really seem to go gaga for it either.

Right before I got sick last week, I decided it was time for said habit to go bye-bye.  I talked with P and we decided that we would dust off the draw reins for a ride or two, using them to show Solo what I was asking of him.

Oh I know right this very moment the purist DQ's are shrieking in horror that I am ruining my horse to all eternity by "cheating" with gadgets and blah blah blah.  Well, they can get over it.  I know my horse.  I know myself as a rider.  And this circumstance was perfect for the application of the draw reins as a tool to make the right thing easy and wrong thing hard.  As long as Solo was round and moving forward, draw rein effect is ZERO.  Only when he chooses to fling his nose in the air like a fruit loop do they come into play.

So, we enter the arena theatre last week.  We warm up and get back muscles loose and warm.  I then ask Solo to step up into a shorter frame and come into a working outline.  I cue for canter.  Predictably, Solo flings his nose up and hits the end of the draw reins.  And reacts roughly as if I had jammed a cattle prod into his eyeball.  Jumping sideways with eyes rolling, he promptly loses his mind.  I maintain my calm, doing nothing but breathe softly and give, encouraging him back into working trot.  We repeat this overly dramatic routine about four times before he finally canters.  Did I mention he can be overly dramatic?  But the key here was for me to stay soft and patient until he chose the easy thing and gave me the right answer.  And lo and behold, on ask number five, his head came up a little, but did not engage the draw rein and he stepped lightly into canter.  GOOD BOY!  We repeated the same sequence in the opposite direction and as soon as he picked up the canter without hitting my hand, we quit for the day.  Solo chomped on the bit, going hmmmmmm, was that all she wanted??

Well, time out for horrid disease which has left me with pretty much no energy.  But I was determined to get back on the horse today and at least do a light ride.  Pathetically, I could only trot about twice around the small arena until I was exhausted, but it was something.  I had put the draw reins on for the second and final time to check and see if canter transition message had been received and processed.  We picked up a working trot and Solo stepped forward nice and round.  In the corner, I sat down, bent him, and asked for the canter.  And I'll be damned if that horse didn't chew down onto the bit and step over his back into canter.  EXCELLENT BOY!!!  We repeated it three times in each direction and without missing a beat he gave me a correct transition staying quiet in the bridle each time.  I was ecstatic!  At this point I was also thoroughly drained and exhausted so I slid off and gave him a big hug.

The draw reins will go back on their hook in the trailer now, having done their job as my assistant physical therapist, showing my horse very clearly what I needed him to do.  Hopefully, we can carry this forward in the coming weeks and pop into the dressage ring at the end of the month with this new trick up our sleeve!

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