It's the saddle.

Well. I wanted really, really badly for it not to be the saddle, but it is. I'm going to have to scrounge rides from other saddles until I can find a new one that works for Rush and I.

Want to know how I figured it out? Well, I had my suspicions earlier, which I told you about. Then she was positively ridiculous last Friday, which I now realize is probably because I rode in my saddle. This Sunday I used a friend's. After a week of not getting out (literally- it rained while I was gone), I expected her to be nasty. I lunged her for as long as I could, although we had to keep things at a trot because the ring was still a bit slippery and the last time I lunged her when the ring was muddy she went over sideways. She reared, twice, and had some pretty rambunctious speed bursts with lots of bucking. Of course I expected a tough ride.

Instead, she was pretty damn good. Not perfect, but much better than anything I expected. She was slow and steady and the only thing I can really complain about is that she kept ducking around my contact at the trot. I was almost going to keep it walk trot, and brave the canter the next time I got on, but I decided to stop being a wuss and just went for it. Boy am I glad I did- it was quite possibly the best canter session we've had. I just wanted to keep going and going and going. Usually when she transitions to the canter it's abrupt and unbalanced and she races a couple of strides before I can bring her back; not so this time. She just hopped up into the canter and loped around like a little doll. She did get fast to the left, but her canter was so much more forward than it usually is (usually it's like a jackhammer, straight up and down and crazy hard to sit) that I don't even care.

I'm planning on working more on the canter transitions, and doing simple lead changes through the center for the next few weeks. I'm also going to focus on bending and circling and leg yielding. After we get some more finesse I'm hoping to tackle trot poles and do some pole courses at the canter. And of course some crosspoles thrown in every now and then :)

Hum.

Well, yesterday was an interesting learning experience- namely, getting on Rush after she's been sitting in her stall for four days is not necessarily a recipe for disaster, but it is definitely not a recipe for a productive riding experience. When I got on she BOLTED off like she used to, resulting in me slamming myself in the saddle whilst trying to pull her down to a not deathly terrifying speed so that I could get my other stirrup and have some sense of balance. Though, to be fair, it wasn't as bad as the time she took off and I ended up sitting behind the saddle while she was hopping around attempting to get me off.. that was super exciting! Let it be noted that it's extremely difficult to lift yourself over the cantle of the saddle when you're sitting behind it.

Basically, she spun around and fidgeted and veered speedily around the ring, completely ignoring any ounce of control I thought I might have. And then she walked, not necessarily calmly, but she walked. She was so tense that trotting was a disaster at first, full of bracing and leaning and little canter outbursts when she had hissy fits from going 'too slow' (aka not racehorse speed). I decided fighting with her wasn't doing either of us any good so we then proceeded to SUPER TROT around the ring, and it probably looked adorable, but really the only reason that she was going reasonably was because I left her alone completely and just rode her forward until I could feel her tiring out. And then, miraculously, cantering wasn't half bad- especially in her good direction (right) where she put up no fuss about going at a reasonable pace. We ended on a little crosspole, which she jumped like a champ. I'm glad that the ride was salvageable, although I have definitely learned my lesson about cutting corners in order to save time.

I'm also back in charge of Brie, since the girl who was riding her has now taken on like 7 jobs in the hopes of buying another horse which is just ridiculous. I got on her yesterday very very briefly to put her through her paces and she was very agitated and spookish, but I can tell she's come a long way from where she began. She did have several bucking fits, but I could tell they were coming because she had a hump in her back from the very beginning of the ride. I'm still not sold on her going in a loose ring, but I can't figure out what type of but she'd enjoy; she absolutely HATES D-rings, happy mouths, even the straight bar I tried.. I would try a french link but I don't have one. So. We'll see how it goes, I guess.

I am in NY for a week visiting relatives for Thanksgiving, so there will unfortunately be no horse play until I get back next Saturday

Videos

Tried Rush in a new bit today; she was awesome! I'm also starting to think that saddle fit may be an issue that's causing her to be fast; the saddle that I ride her in is too narrow for her but I don't really have any other options until I find a new saddle. The saddle I rode her in in these videos belongs to another girl and she lets me use it, but I don't want to take advantage of her generosity.

News & Mud

I got to the barn late late late yesterday because I was catching up on homework and laundry. So much laundry. I still have a few loads left to do, after doing laundry pretty much all day yesterday. I blame my hoarding tendencies- apparently I have a thing for towels. Who knew? Luckily I still had time to ride before the Halloween Horse Show began.

May I just say, I absolutely love this horse. She is amazing and so, so capable. I really think my theory of low-key hacks is correct, because she was completely calm and responsive yesterday after not being actually worked for three days, excluding a 10 minute bareback jaunt Friday. It was probably the best ride I've had on her, to date. She was very relaxed and willing at the canter to the right, something she NEVER offers, so I did a lot of canter work. To the left, as usual, she was tense and rushed but towards the end I got some nice stretches where she slowed down a little.

Afterwards I talked to BO (aka her owner) about the lease situation. Since Sami is leasing Status again starting November (aka now) I was out a horse to lease. So.. now I am the proud leaser of Rush, and can honestly say YES when people ask me if she's mine. Usually I go into a long awkward story about how she's someone else's but I'm the only one that rides her etc etc and they get very confused.

It rained buckets overnight so the ring was a mess today. I know it would be weird to have an indoor ring in SoCal but it would be so much easier to keep things consistent if we at least had a covered arena. The ring doesn't have very good footing so it takes forever to dry out, meaning the horses are stuck in their 12x12 stalls until the footing improves.

I hopped on bareback in the blanket again today and Rush & I wandered around the barn and ring for a while. There was a rather large puddle at the bottom of the ring; I decided to be daring and walked her through it several times. I think she enjoyed it; after the initial head down-loud snorting phase she tramped through it happily and even doubled around to have another go without me steering.  

Tuesday/Friday

Tuesday the chica was naughty. Naughty naughty naughty. I got on and attempted to hack around during the lesson that was taking place, in continuation of the trying to get her used to other horses in the ring, but she was so unfocused that everything we did was a fight. Posting trot: fight. Sitting trot: fight. Canter pickup: fight. Staying slow: holy cow, was that a fight. She was not having anything to do with staying relatively slow and I was having zero success making her listen to me. I tend to get frustrated and start to lose my cool, so I hopped off before I started getting angry. She absolutely BLEW UP in the turnout ring- bucking and leaping and galloping full speed ahead at the railing. I swear she almost jumped it a few times. It was then I decided I wanted to end the workout on a better note, so i got out the lunge line and chased her in a circle until she was licking her lips and positively dragging. Then I saddled her up again, made her trot and canter nicely twice around the ring, and called it a night. She was spectacular after I had completely exhausted her; it just frustrates me that it's necessary to run her around that much before she'll listen. She was completely drenched in sweat after that, though, so I spent about an hour walking her out and letting her dry. I REALLY need to invest in a cooler.

Today it rained moderately, but I drove out to the barn anyway to see if the ring was rideable. It was rideable.. and then it started raining again, so I got on her bareback while she had her nice snug waterproof blanket on and just walked her around. I'm hoping hacks like this where everything is low key will get the point across that not everything is a race.

Tomorrow is the Halloween Horse Show, I will be sure to post pictures!