My cutey pie.

He made my milennium :)

I've owned Snuffy for 5 years now and despite having our ups and downs, he is my best buddy.

I board him and go out to see him at least 4 or 5 days a week but I always have to go out to the back of the pasture to get him. He doesn't play hard to get he just has always waited for me to walk over. Except tonight. I called his name in a silly sing song voice and for once instead of playing deaf he looked up, leapt forward, and came trotting all the way up the gate! He made my week!

We've arrived!

I took two lessons this week thanks to my refund check :)  I am fit to burst I am so proud of Snuffy and myself!  We started jumping!  Crossrails, sure, but it was so fun and Snuffy is such a champ!

We've been doing so much work trying to improve our connection and acceptance of the bit.  It is persnickity work that requires a lot of patience and timing that can get, well, persnickity.  To the point of dullness in Snuffy's mind and to the point of annoyance to mine.  On the other hand, jumping is the opposite.  It is forward and exciting!  I think that working on some jumping will bring some interest and maybe some aha moments to our above/behind the bit problem as well as improve Snuffy's back and derriere muscles to perhaps make our flat work easier for him.

I <3 my Snuffy!

Staying motivated and accountable...

For the past year I have been keeping track of everything I do with Snuffy in a private wiki that I share with my sister.  The same wiki also has logs of my weekly weight and all the exercise I do.  Keeping track of these things helps me to stay accountable and motivated to reach my goals.  It has been so easy for me in the past to say I'm going to do something and then never think about it again especially things that take a lot of time and goal setting.

Here is an example of what I've been keeping track of with Snuffy :

1/11 Lunged w/t/c ~30 mins.  With outside siderein.

1/13 Rode w/t ~30 mins.

1/15 Heather rode w/t/c on trail. I rode ~15 mins walk.

1/18 Rode w/t/c ~60 mins

1/20 Rode w/t/c ~40 mins.

1/22 Rode w/t/c 45 mins.

1/24 Walked 45 mins around property.  Dewormed with Quest.

1/25 Rode w/t 45 mins.  Lazy Snuffy. Very windy.

1/26 Farrier.

1/27 Rode w/t/c ~45 mins.

1/28 Rode w/t in jumping field ~45 mins.

1/29 Rode w/t/c ~35 mins.

1/31 Rode in arena w/t with/B ~35 mins.     

That's the whole month of January.  He had some time off in the beginning of that month because I was out of town and the weather was ridiculous.  Compare the above with last year in April...

4/15  Started in the ring.  Lots of loops.  Trotting working on relaxed neck for ten minutes rest for a few minutes and start again. Couple canter transitions, a little better.  Can't wait for lesson so I have some eyes on the ground.  Went for short ride with Christina to big field.

4/17 Went out to ride but forgot I took home my riding pants to wash.  Lunged Snuffy over raised cavalletti.  Went for a walk out into the big field and walked up and down the steep hill at least 10 times.

4/18 Lunged in the dressage arena.  Rode mostly trot work for 40 mins.

4/20 Lunged over poles wtc.  Rode til it rained 20 mins : ( 

4/21 Had lesson.  Lunged with tie down and outside side rein.  Side rein work was huge improvement.  Need to buy side reins.  Worked on contact at walk and trot and transition from halt to walk to halt and walk to trot to walk. 

4/22 Lunged with outside side rein.  Was not as effective as yesterday.  It helped keep him straight and upright but his head was a titch high.  Think side rein used as a tie down might work.  Rode for an hour.  Walk trot trying to keep steady contact while doing transitions and bending.  Went for short hack outside arena when we were through.

4/24 Lunged with outside side rein.  Used the other rein to jimmy a tie down from noseband to girth.  Was effective but a pain in the ass.  Can't wait for side reins to come in.  Rode at walk and trot stayed very slow and kept even contact.  Managed to have a relaxed neck most of the time.  Lots of sitting jog.  Maybe ride with a standing martingale?

4/25 Went for hour long walking trail ride with the girls.  Snuffy was very good.  I need to relax, I was very tense in the beginning gripping and not letting my weight down to my heels.

4/27 Lunged briefly and had an even briefer ride.  Just walk and halt.  I was out of gas after that 4 mile run in the heat.  Note to self.  Run after your ride.

Lot's o'lunging back then.  Whew!

I can't wait to see what my log will look like this time next year!

It's been so long...

A common refrain on blogs is that it has been so long between posts but for real now, a year? And before that? Oh well.

Snuffy and I have been through a lot. We are starting to look like what I had imagined when I dreamt of having my own horse when I was a kid. Fearless and fun.

That said, my long term goals for this year with Snuffy are to go for a trail ride alone and to go to a show and participate in a class. The way things are going I think they may be short term goals :)

Right now we are working on being consistently on the bit and smoothing out all our transitions, especially our trot/canter/trot transitions. Pretty bumpy so far but hopefully the French link I bought and more lessons will help!

My pony! I bought Snuffy in November of 2005. Born in 1999 he was still green broke and not what I was planning on buying but his little face was just too cute and he seemed sooo easy to ride. Long story short, Snuffy is a princess and like the princess and the pea he is very discriminating! He was also a big overreactor.

I spent a lot of time and money trying to figure him out. He taught me a lot about hoof balance, the importance of good dental care, and everything I ever wanted to know about saddles and saddle fitting! After going through many saddles that were not quite right I finally bought a new one that fit him and had a professional saddle fitter adjust it to his specifications.

The flying lessons brought on by poor saddle fit had taken its toll on my confidence though and it has taken me a while to get to where I am now. I spent a lot of time lunging, just getting on and off, walking around, and just a little trotting in the round pen without anything bad happening to learn to trust him again. It took baby steps to use the big arena and more baby steps to go outside of it. There was a lot of one step forward two steps back going on. Years :)

Things are good now. Snuffy is older and I am wiser.

Walk and Trot and Walk

What I am thinking about:

1. Toes to the nose.
2. Chest 'Eyes'.
3. Head and Neck move with shoulders not before.
4. Turning, engage outside obliques, look with chest 'eyes', inside toe to nose.
5. Tuck pelvis in, sit on pockets.
6. Don't look down. Bungee cord from top of crown to the sky.
7. Keep posting motion small.
8. Relax shoulders.
9. Keep even constant contact on reins.

To relax upper body: trot with reins in one hand other arm dangling at side.

Halt and Walk and Halt

Last Friday's lesson was good, we worked on halt/walk/halt transitions. It was a challenge keeping Breezy going forward. To halt I was told to use my thighs and hands to squeeze and release and to walk I was told to bring my lower leg in (not back) to lightly tap her and if she didn't move forward right away to brush her with the whip. As with everything I am learning, the coordination of aids is challenging but gets easier as we go along.

To help me concentrate on my form better, Carey took my whip and walked along beside us and tapped Breezy if she didn't move off my leg or started to slow down without being asked. Breezy started to get to the point where she was anticipating the walk from the halt that it seemed she didn't want to stand still! Breezy not want to stand still?! Holy Cow! Carey pointed out that the fact that Breezy was anticipating what I wanted was a sign that she was learning what was expected of her though she may not be fully on the aids.

Our work on the halt/walk transition, getting good impulsion from the start of the walk rather than dragging in to it is supposed to help us get a good walk/trot transition that we may be working on tomorrow (Wednesday) during our next lesson.

I rode with Regina on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. Totally fell off (again!) on Saturday when Breezy apparently spooked at nothing and kind of leapt to the left, just like she did when I fell off the last time. She was acting like a total butt, I think because I was on for a while and she felt like she should be done already. Needless to say I got back on and rode a lot longer even going back into the ring and working on some trotting and cantering. What a turd.

Regina was so nice, when I told her that I was worried what she thought when I fell off, she just said that the only thing she was worried about was whether I was alright and that she hoped I wouldn't start hating Ms. Breezy. I don't think I could hate Breezy, she may be a butt but I loff her to pieces.

Yesterday I went out with Jen and looked at a horse with her in Ocala. His name is Black Jack and he was very sweet just not steady eddie enough for her, or for me for that matter. It was a beautiful evening though and the lady we met, Cindy of Performance LTD was very nice and very knowledgeable. Having never looked at a horse to buy before, I think it was a great first time out.

I want to go out and ride today but I must go running with Andy and clean the house.