Mayhem and Ensuing Trauma

So we left off having a totally awesomesauce ride. Friday, not so much. I was originally going to warm up on the flat and then set up a jump course, so that I had more maneuverability while flatting, but she was a ball of fire and blowing through everything so I decided to just work over fences. For some reason, she really settles down over fences- I think it just engages her mind more and it something she truly enjoys, so she settles down to working instead of fighting with me.

I just put a cavaletti on each long diagonal and did figure eights over them, first at the trot and then at the canter. She was definitely bracing to them and taking off long instead of waiting for me, but we worked through it and she settled down to loping over them with me. I was happy enough with that, so I called it quits and got off.

And then.. ugh. I unsaddled her in the ring, to give her a little turnout, and then took the bridle off. She tried to take off while I was slipping the bridle over her head and caught the bit in her mouth, flinging herself backwards and dragging me a few feet before she dropped it and bolted off. Obviously this was not acceptable behavior, so I waited until she stopped running about then caught her in order to do more on-off of the bridle until she stood still and waited. Unfortunately, she had other ideas.

I looped the reins around her neck and was bringing the bit up to her mouth when she decided not to play ball and bolted off, dragging me with her. I was holding the bridle, and the reins were around her neck- I had a brief moment of debate in my mind whether to try and keep holding on or not, and decided to drop the bridle with the hope that she would stop once there wasn't resistance. No such luck. She took off around the ring, tangling the bridle up in her back legs, and quite frankly scaring us both to death. I really, truly thought she was going to break a leg.

Instead, she stopped in a corner and let me unbuckle the reins and untangle the rest of the bridle from her legs. And then she just stood there for a bit, every muscle tense and trembling. So obviously we were a little traumatized from that. I got a halter and walked her around a bit; she had no swelling or abrasions and walked off sound so I thanked my lucky stars, cold hosed each leg for several minutes, and then had to run off to my bus.

Making It All Worth It

Working with Rush is a lot like driving down a street with ridiculously long street lights. You can be rushing along, making mad progress, and then the brakes are engaged and you wait. And wait. And wait. And just when you've just about torn your hair out from the frustration
of waiting and making no progress, the light changes.

That's what it's been like since I started riding her. We'd get stuck on an issue, make no progress for a while, send me into spirals of frustration and despair, and then one day something would change (maybe she felt sorry for me) and we would catapult past the problem, making rapid progress in a relatively short frame of time. It's frustrating as hell, because nobody likes to plateau, especially when there is so much to learn.

But rides like the one I had last week are what makes it all worth it. Ever since the impending decision that Rush will get leased out this summer (more on that later) at a hunter/jumper barn, I decided it was time to get back into jumping bootcamp. Originally, when I had moved to the dressage barn I'm at, I had ambitiously decided to jump once or twice a week.. however, the size of a dressage ring being shared between three people is not exactly conducive to setting up jumps, and there's almost always someone riding when I am at the barn, so I opted for just doing flatwork instead of cramming jumps into an already crowded ring. Plus I only had two standards and a couple really odd large plastic poles, which Rush hits pretty consistently and are lightweight enough to be knocked down, so I was having to get off after every jump to reset it. Not worth it.

Last week, however, I scrounged up four cavalettis that had been hiding out behind some trailers and dragged them over to the ring (WHY ARE THEY SO HEAVY??). I set up a two stride line, a single on the other long side of the ring, and the last one when down a long diagonal. I honestly don't really know what I was expecting- we haven't schooled courses since before she went lame last year, let alone any two strides, so this was one of my "we'll try it out, see how it goes, and adjust from there" moments. And I'm glad I did, because BOY was she perfect!

I is a goobers

I might have to attribute some of her lightness and responsiveness to the transition work we had done in the previous ride, but she was listening and relaxed and not running to jumps, and it was simply a stellar ride. We warmed up on the flat briefly- she even offered a change (but then got a little excited afterwards), then hopped over the single both ways to warm up my eye. I trotted the course first (down single, up two stride, down diagonal, up single) and she was perfect- waiting, coming back from the canter when I asked her to, keeping a consistent pace- and I cantered the course twice after, both of which went quite smoothly. She changed her lead over the diagonal fence every time (that's my girl!) and came back quickly to a trot if I needed her to change in a corner. The only spot of trouble we had was in the two stride, as I had forgotten to shorten it for her stride. She kind of bullied through it each time, running because she didn't know if she could make it otherwise, but came back after the second fence every time so I didn't push it during the course.

After we finished the course work I took her through the two stride a few more times each way until I had convinced her that it was possible to get through it without running willy nilly. She just really doesn't trust her stride to get her up to things, so she gets fast instead of opening up and lengthening. I tried to correct this by giving her a really quality, forward canter up to the first jump, then half halting upon the landing (as an attempt to catch her before she started running) and giving a conservative release over the second fence in order to hold her together more. It seemed to work, as after a few times through she got the hang of it and was cruising through.

Then everything went to hell in a handbasket Friday, but more on that later.

Counter Canter

I was a bad mom this past week and didn’t go out very much, so she pretty much sat around and did nothing but a light hack this week. That made for a horse with lots of energy. We worked for maybe 30 minutes on just blowing through that energy- lots of trotting circles, figure eights, etc, with me staying out of her way as long as she didn’t get too out of control. There was another horse in the ring who was trotting/cantering around us, and she had a few OH MY GOD ITS COMING FOR ME moments, but held herself together really well and never actually took off, which is a major improvement for us. We did lots of trot-halt, walk-halt, trot-walk transitions in the center of the ring after our warm-up when we were waiting for the other horse to leave so we could get to the good stuff, cantering!

And good stuff it was. I started out loping her around each direction on a loopy rein, letting her relax into it and get her longer strided, active canter rather than her short choppy EHMERGERD WE’RE CANTERING canter which is a big no no. It took a while for her to relax into it going to the left, but we got there, and all was good. Then.. the dreaded counter canter. We’ve never practiced this before. It’s 100% new material to us. And she DID NOT GET IT.

And she was very adamant about letting me know that she did not get it. First we started with, y’know, trying to get the counter canter. And she gave me a big FU, said NO YOU’RE WRONG, and picked up the correct lead every time. So we sat in a corner for a bit as I attempted to make her flex her neck to each side, which she also did not like, and then we tried again. I ended up having to take her off the track, bend her to the outside, then pick up the canter and move diagonally back to the track.

Then came the harder part.. keeping the counter canter. Once she understood that yes, I really did want the “wrong” lead, she picked it up for me every time. But that doesn’t mean she kept it. Whaddya know, we have really smooth flying changes! But they only happen whenever she thinks they should.. oh Rush. At first every time we approached a corner she swapped. Then it was between the first and second corners. I really had to wrap her around my outside leg, using it to direct the motion of her body around the turns, while keeping my inside leg back to support her bend. It was hard work for the both of us, and it was definitely not pretty. But we managed to get through the short side going each way, which is not an easy feat considering it’s an itty bitty indoor with short sides!

It feels crazy good to be able to get that amount of effort out of her. She was frustrated as hell and thought I was insane and doing everything wrong, but she worked with me and we made really good progress in just one ride. It’s the rides like these- when we learn something new together- that makes me appreciate her so much. She’s really come far since I met her.

Winding Down February

February was a big month for us! We made really big progress in remaining relaxed and steady in a frame, mainly thanks to moving to a new facility. These are the goals I laid out for us at the beginning of February:

Ride without stirrups at least 2x a week
5 min of balancing trot + canter per ride
Begin teaching flying changes
Pole courses + low fences (while at SRS)

All in all I think we did pretty well with these! Some got kind of modified as our needs changed- for example, balancing, but the overall purpose for them was achieved.

Ride without stirrups at least 2x a week: This one is (unfortunately) the one that I think I stuck to the most. While at SRS it was more of doing several minutes of posting without stirrups, then once we moved to our new placce it was more like, oh look, my leg has improved x1000 on flat but not over fences so maybe idk, I should just take my stirrups off my saddle! So I did that and killed myself for a few days in a row and then took a breather and then killed myself some more and fun times were had by all.

5 min of balancing trot + canter per ride: This one was less adhered to, simply because it wasn't really necessary after the initial two weeks at SRS that I balanced a bunch. Those weeks were enough to get rid of my icky perching problem and remind my position that I was perfectly capable of stretching down into my legs and balancing myself.

Begin teaching flying changes: Well.. we made some progress here. Things I know: she can get flying changes. Things I don't know: how to make her get them consistently. We'll figure it out, I just need to discover which cues and approaches work for her and which don't.

Pole courses + low fences (while at SRS): This is the one that probably failed most in practice but worked best in theory. The point of working on this was to redevelop my eye and get me better at finding and supporting unusual spots. I didn't do much in the way of pole courses but I have been jumping consistently and my eye has gotten a lot better, to the point where I no longer see absolutely nothing.

Day o' Sun

Friday was a b e a utiful day that had sunshine up the wazoo and it was amazing! The Rushers had her blanket off for turnout for the first time in a millenium, which I'm sure she appreciated. She also got a scrub down on her neck and shoulders trying to eradicate that persistent bugger I like to call Steve. Okay it's really rain rot, I just decided to name it Steve right now. Not sure why. Then she got to graze out in the nice open grass field while I waited for her to dry, which really only took a few minutes because only her clipped hair was wet, but I stretched it out because the sun felt heavenly and she was being really adorable snuffling around in the grass.

Friday also marks the day we upped the jumps to 3', and she rose to the challenge amazingly! I trust this horse with my life, she has never shown even the slightest inclination of refusing a jump- bowling straight through it, maybe, destroying it, definitely an option, but refusing? Not a chance. Her worst habit is wiggling on the approach and diving one way or another directly afterwards, which I need to be more vigilant about, but luckily that's a problem easily fixed and one I will gladly take over what we had a few weeks ago, which was trying to buck me off every time we cantered.

Saturday we went back to flat work and focused on our flying changes, which I think really started to click into place by the end of the ride. She has wonderful simple changes- point her down a diagonal at the canter, ask her to trot in the middle, and she'll pop right up into the opposite lead no questions asked (even if you don't want her to which happens frequently.. but that's a whole 'nother can of worms). Flying changes have been more difficult to implement, as she's been really sticky with her hind end through them. This has mostly been my fault, because I've been so focused on changing the bend that I've forgotten the most important element of a change- being collected. Once I was reminded that hey, maybe sitting her on her butt will make it easier for her to get a clean change, things started clicking into place and she put in a good three or four consistently at the end of the ride. I'm hoping the next week will really build on that and soon we'll have automatic ones!

Best Vday Ever

I couldn't have asked for more. My little mare is amazing. I love her to bits. I honestly wasn't expecting much- whenever I really and truly just need a good ride, she usually tries to buck me off.  I didn't /need/ a good ride yesterday- I wasn't pining or wallowing or anything, but it would have been nice to mark the day with something special like Rush being the bestest pony ever. And she came through!

The offending bit

I had switched bits out earlier this week, meaning to try out a new bit just for funsies, but didn't have a chance to ride in it until yesterday. I usually ride her in a plain D-ring snaffle, nothing complicated, but she's never seemed 100% with it- always gaping at the mouth or chomping noisily. I had a Happy Mouth french link loose ring that somehow made it into my bit collection a few months ago, and I hadn't tried it out yet, so I gave it a shot. And now I'm never going back!

Then we got a haircut

She was stellar. One of our biggest problems has been her bracing and ducking and just fighting the contact in general. She's never been steady in the bridle, 100%, no questions asked. And in this bit.. she is. It honestly felt spectacular, like a huge breakthrough. This ride was the first one she's ever truly felt like a hunter to me- I've always been worried about her, since she's never seemed capable of relaxing into a loose frame and just carrying on. Her trot was beautiful and relaxed, her canter was beautiful and relaxed, and her jumping was beautiful and relaxed, and I don't think I've ever been able to describe a ride on her like that before.

I even knocked the jump up from an itty bitty 2' to something around 2'6, and I didn't feel nervous jumping it at all! It didn't even look super high to me. Progress!

Past Few Days

I gave her royal highness Saturday off because she had been pretty tired on Friday. I just walked around bareback with the quarter sheet wrapped around my legs and basically rode her on the buckle and let her wander around the indoor where ever she wanted to go. I jogged her a bit to see if she wanted to stretch any, but her head went straight to the ground and she took itty bitty steps (aka I'm TIRED mom why do we have to do this) so I didn't push it and let her come back down to a walk.

Sunday we ended up going on our first ever long trail ride! I hacked out with Maresa and we ended up going for a 5 mile trail, which was super awesome and fun. Rush was pretty good on it, she got a bit jittery a few times but nothing ridiculous and it was usually because she was getting sucked into the mud, which she hated with a fiery passion. She walked through all the marshy wet spots like a saint (even stopped for some good ol’ fashioned pawing) and did most of it on the buckle with her head level. We trotted through the forest a bit, she was excited (and a little confused) but definitely controllable and towards the end I even got her a little more framed up. I was really proud of her!

She was sweating after the trail so I thought she had gotten a decent workout.. hahaha no. Yesterday she was a little booger and we had a really frustrating ride, much to my dismay. Originally the plan was to just do a quick warm up and then do lots of pole courses to work on my eye, and finish up with some low jumps. Rush had other ideas. 

We warmed up pretty well at the trot, and she felt nice and steady in the contact. Then I picked up the right canter lead in the top corner and she saw Ziggy cantering towards her and flipped out, bolting forwards and then sideways and almost ran out into the road. I got her walking then trotting normally through that corner and then attempted cantering again, but she kept happening completely unprovoked bolting sessions, particularly at the bottom of the arena and up the fenced side. She wouldn’t settle after that and was agitated and hollow/bracing at the trot afterwards. 

I wasn’t comfortable working her through it in the outdoor, since it’s not fenced in and my lower leg felt quite loose, so I took her up into the indoor to canter and hopefully work through some energy. She, of course, gave me a lovely canter up there with no qualms and the only problem we had was her trying to cut off the corner by the tack room tracking right. After a few times around with solid inside leg pressure, an opening outside rein, and a restricting inside rein she started bending through that corner properly. We did a few simple changes through the diagonal, a few circles, but mostly just lots of laps around the arena both ways at a solid canter to get her energy out. After she was sweating pretty hard I took her back outside and cantered her both ways, cutting the ring in half. She was better- no bolting (except when a gate slammed shut but I forgave her for that)- but was obviously alert and not relaxed at all compared to the indoor. It feels like when she anticipates where she’s going- like going up a long side- she starts to ignore me and hollow out, and if I ask for something different (like turning and circling instead of going up the straightaway) she panics and is already hollow so she just scoots more with her head up in the air. It’s frustrating because she’s progressed so much in the trot these past few weeks.. if only we could translate that to the canter.  

 

I  started off today by finishing the clip job. She needs some touch ups by her elbows and chest but I can do that tomorrow. Her clipped parts look so dapper I just want to shave everything!! But that’s a bad idea and she wouldn’t like me very much. 

My ride was actually, for once, awesome!! Started with some posting trot figure eights with no stirrups, then picked the stirrups up and did some balancing trot instead. My aim for this ride was to leave her alone and just quietly support her through things she had difficulty with. It worked really well! She was really relaxed through the entire ride and was pretty much on cruise control; the only times I really got involved with her was to push her into corners since she likes to cut them. While me leaving her alone meant that we didn’t exactly go around in a frame, she had a lovely relaxed little march and did offer some moments of roundness. This applied to the canter, as well- I didn’t bother her about her face and she responded by having a balanced and rhythmic canter that wasn’t necessarily round but was quiet and normal. I did a lot of balancing at the canter, mostly to work on myself, but she also seemed to like it and did lots of stretching down and rounding out. We did some changes of direction on the diagonals- we turned up them, came down to a trot, trotted over a pole, then picked up the opposite in the corner. My hope with this was that she’d wait for me to ask for the canter again, rather than just running through the change the way she likes to. She did really well and even had some nice controlled trot in between canter leads.

We went over a crosspole at the trot a few times- she was super lazy and knocked it- and then cantered through it both ways to try and work on my eye. She was really good about not overjumping, even when we got in long, so I was proud of her. After I was feeling more confident about my eye we did a little ‘course’, aka down the crosspole change of lead up one diagonal pole and then change of lead down the other diagonal pole. She was doing so well and didn’t seem super tired, and I wanted to really work on jumping when she was being reasonable, so I got off and reconfigured the poles again. I set up a 2ft vertical with a pole 8 feetsies away on each side, and then went over it at the canter to the right. The first few times we came up to it I had to circle away because I just didn’t see a spot- I counted and everything, there was just nothing there. Luckily I could pull her into a circle smoothly and just regroup and come back to it. The first few times through she was kind of figuring it out and overjumped then screwed up the pole on the other side, then cut the corner at the top of the ring. Then she went through it perfectly normal, but would land on the wrong lead and dive in. The last time I went through to the right she went through like a champ, landed on the correct lead, and listened to me when I kept her from diving in, so I ended on that note instead of drilling it into her the other direction. All in all it was a great ride!

 

Riding Log 2/1/13

Warmed up for a few minutes at balancing trot. She was very steady and relaxed, and responded to leg well when changing directions. I felt rather perchy and kept falling forward on her neck, even when I tried to focus on sinking into my heels and sitting up rather than forward. We moved into the posting trot, and I got her in a frame and stepping forward more at the trot. She’s really starting to settle into the contact, except in the corners. We did several circles and figure eights working on consistency and tempo, then started doing the trot poles. I had five trot poles set down the center of the ring, so we would turn down the center, go through them, then turn the opposite way afterwards, continuously- so basically, figure eighting by cutting the ring in half horizontally rather than vertically. She stumbled through the poles the first time, then got the idea of it and marched through perfectly. She had a hard time making the turns- they were rather tight- but seemed to get better by the end. I tried to help her out by steadying her with the outside rein, putting my weight to the outside, and keeping my inside leg on her to keep her from falling in.

Took a short break to reset the poles- one itty bitty crosspole and a pole line on the opposite side set at three strides (I strided it out, then made it 3ft shorter than it was supposed to be). We did a few laps each direction at the canter, with me up in the two point urging her forward forward forward because oh my she was sluggish (tired pony). At this point her canter feels pretty balanced, but just really short strided. I’m trying to find a good balance between pushing her forward into a decent paced canter and not having her run around willy nilly.. it’s hard. We switched direction with a simple change down the diagonal, did the same the opposite direction, then went through the pole line a few times each way. I’m trying to work on striding- that’s why I had a pole line out- but I pretty much missed the distance every time, either getting in way too long or not giving her enough time to shorten her stride to fit in the shorter one comfortably. Then we did the crosspole (and bombed it every time) a few times. At this point she was really tired- she had been breaking through the poles. I bombed the spots :((. She still needs to learn not to freak and launch over anything she gets in long to, but I can hardly blame her when I’m basically setting her up from failure. I got jumped out of the tack every time we got in long, so I really need to work on strengthening myself so that doesn’t happen. I did get her in properly once or twice, and she put in a normal amount of effort, so we ended on that note. I let her stretchy trot to cool down, and balanced through it- this time I felt a lot more secure than in the beginning, but still had difficulty stretching down through my heels.

Things to work on:

·      Me

o   Push weight down through heels

o   Keep core strong

o   Keep reins short and effective

o   DISTANCES!!!

·      Her

o   Consistency in maintaining frame and tempo

o   Forward at the canter without sacrificing relaxation

o   Not freaking out when I screw up spots