Monday's Lesson

Right after work on Monday I went running to the barn to get to my 6PM lesson. I was presented with the pretty mare, Dede, who I promptly got clean and tacked up and waited a little while for the lady I was riding with to get her horse ready.

Once we were up I could see why the young beginner was struggling with the reins on Dede last week, she is strong and wants to pull you forward a bit. I had a pretty heavy contact when I first started and then she got lighter as time went on. Donna really likes the side to side motion with the bit, to get the horse "collected". It seems to work with her horses (she's trained both Dede and Magic) and I am sure she is very light and tactful while doing it but I just can't see how it helps when beginners or novices (me) are doing it.

I also must say that Dede does not know what to do when faced with a pole that is lifted several inches off the ground. She bunny hopped over a 5 inch pole when confronted with it twice and refused once. Again I can see why that beginner was having a problem the other night. My opinion is that someone with more skill should get on her and school her more over jumps rather than letting beginners hit her in the mouth every time she bunny hops over.

Ahh, but things are never the way we wish them to be are they? Besides, I am a horsey coddler and what do I know? : )

It felt pretty strange being up on a horse that actually wants to go as soon as you put on your leg. I think it made me a little nervous knowing that she hadn't been ridden all weekend and that I was the first one up on her all day. It made it hard for me to get that nice thigh contact when I was thinking about trying to get her to relax the whole time. Of course at the same time I was not wanting to put my leg on because it felt like she would shoot out from under me, I was thinking that I needed to get my leg on her and have some steady contact to reassure her. I think I was vascillating between the two extremes in the beginning but the more we trotted the better my leg felt and the calmer she became.

Donna is not the most organized of instructors. There doesn't really seem to be a progression of exercises but the exercises she does are interesting.

One exercise we did, she set up three cones in the shape of an L. Down the long side of the L we were to post the trot, then we were supposed to turn and sit the trot, and then we were supposed to stop right at the last cone. Not easy.

The other exercise/game we did, Donna set five cones equidistant from each other down the quarter line of the arena. I was positioned on one side facing the center of the arena and the other rider, Carolyn, was at the other. We were to weave, at the posting trot, through the cones, changing diagonals at each of the cones, meet at the center cone, and then come back through and do it again. It was pretty hard to keep track of diagonals, rate the speed just right to be able to meet Carolyn in the middle, and try to keep a nice even bend in the horse. Good grief, but it was fun!

So, even if she is not the most perfect instructor, there is plenty I can learn from her and I think I have some pretty good judgement for when her methods may not quite mesh with what I expect. Her horses seem happy and healthy, her set up is lovely, and I will make do with that for now : )

Spurs, A Test

I rode Breezy with spurs this past Saturday... and everything was fine! She did not act pissy or upset, she seemed more like, "Oh! Hey! Ok, I think I will move now." I will have to experiment with them a bit to see what works the best but I am not afraid to use them anymore.

So now I have another little tool in my toolbox and, of course, another thing which I just have to buy for myself. Yay! That and a nice long dressage whip.

A Long Week Ends Nicely

Funny, I forgot to mention on Tuesday that I didn't ride on Monday. I know why, I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get the floor warranty to kick in and picking out a new washer that day, not so fun. Tuesday I got off work early again to meet the floor people at my house and ended up not running because I was just mentally beat.

Wednesday I went out and rode Breezy and had a really nice time. I got up and we walked around for about 15 minutes. I was really trying to get her to stretch out and get warmed up. Once I felt like I got her energy up I started a nice canter instead of a trot that I normally start with and took her by surprise. We went once around and then we turned around and went the other way one time. She felt like she was a lot more limber more quickly than normal. Then I started some trotting and really felt like I had some horse underneath me...for a little bit anyway : )

On Friday my plan was to get up early, ride Breezy, pick up Laurie, and then go to a lesson at Great Beginnings at 2:15. It turned into sleep til 11:00, mow the lawn and then go pick Laurie up etc. I have no idea why I slept so late.

I had an hour private lesson on a horse named Magic. He is an Appendix Quarter Horse and very pretty. My trainer Donna is very personable and can be quite funny. Laurie had a seat on a tall chair on the long side of the covered arena (!) and I was put through my paces, just walking and trotting at this point. It was painful. I was seated on yet another horse who did not want to move. Thankfully, Donna said that he had acted like this with her a couple of days ago too and it was not entirely my fault.

So, after much kicking and jellyfishing around the arena, Donna went to get me some spurs from the barn. Well, I won't say they did the trick but he gradually became more responsive as the lesson went on. I learned that my lower legs are too far forward and that I need to hold them back more in order to be able to motivate the horse to move forward as well as to keep me from being behind the motion. I also learned that I enjoy riding in a covered arena shielded from the hot sun.

I liked Donna's no nonsense teaching style and look forward to another lesson from her. I suspect I will hear a lot of "You're Cheating!" from her and maybe one day I will be able to trailer Breezy in for a lesson under the coveted covered arena. Also...a covered arena means a lesson rain or shine! I like that, especially in the summer.

After my painful lesson, Laurie and I stayed to watch the next lesson, which was a semi private with two girls. One of the girls took Magic from me and the other was riding a very pretty mare who looked alot like my first love, Magnum. Donna said that she would like me to ride her next time. Apparently she is just turned five and a little bit witchy. She looked really sweet to me.

We left Great Beginnings and went back to Laurie's house with the hopes that the lady she was supposed to get a lesson from had called, to no avail. It seems she had fallen off the face of the planet which is a common practice of horse professionals for some reason. So, whatever, Laurie cleaned and tacked up her mare Krystal and we set out to the field. After a quick lungeing session to make sure the saddle was properly set to not cause a bucking spree, Laurie got up and walked and trotted around me for a little while. The horse she had described did not seem to be the one she was on as Krystal was being very cooperative and even pokey. Laurie looked very good up in the saddle despite not riding consistently and I had very little to tell her except what she already knew. I did tell her that I thought her saddle might be contributing to her leg creepage. It seemed like the stirrup leather hangs too far forward of where she is sitting.

I hopped up once Laurie was done and Krystal felt really nice. Very comfortable walk and a nice smooth trot. Fun!

All in all a very nice horsey day.

Crazy Weekend

Let's see, I ended my last post dreading a lesson. I ended up not going to that lesson. Like a total weenie I called up on Friday morning and said I wasn't feeling well. In all honesty, I decided that I didn't trust my instructor. She threw rocks at the horse I was riding to make him canter when I just couldn't get it done, fer Christ's sake! I think I would prefer someone who could take things step by step with me right now. Perhaps I could contact her again once I have my basics more firmly under control.

So, on Friday I went out to see Laurie, a friend of mine from work. She has three beautiful horses and a mini who is just adorable. We played with them a bit and then went to Mel's Tack shop down the street to browse. Then we went down to see Ms. Breezy. I cleaned her up and got on for a few minutes as Laurie watched. It was really nice to have someone knowledgeable on the ground that could give me an idea of what we looked like. Basically she said we looked good but that I needed to get some more go from Ms. B. I knew that but having someone else say it makes it that much more real. It was also cool because she was able to tell me as soon as something looked good and so I was able to feel it.

We went back to her house and I met her husband, Marty who is very nice. We messed around with the horses a little bit more and chatted. Laurie let me borrow a few books and then we said our goodbyes. We had spent five hours just doing horsey stuff! I had such a good time that we are planning on getting together this week, too. She is going to be having a lesson on her mare Krystal and I am going to out and watch and maybe schedule a lesson for the next week on Breezy! Fun!

One of the books that Laurie lent me is called "Riding With Your Mind : Essentials," by Mary Wanless. It is awesome! Virtually every question I have asked or have thought about asking about riding and position is answered. Basically, there is no such thing as relaxing on horseback. You must maintain a level of static tension or tone to be able to support yourself in the saddle. And....! You don't kick with your heel! You use your lower calf to give the horse a thunk!... More or less, depending on the animal of course. Also, I figured out why I could never find my right seatbone. I was always pushing so hard into my right stirrup to get my heel down that I was putting all my weight on my left seatbone to compensate.

So on Saturday I went out and had one of the best rides I've had in forever. I concentrated on bearing down and feeling both seatbones at the expense of the wierdness I felt with my right foot feeling floaty. I made a strong effort to keep my thighs against the saddle to support myself instead of having all my weight pushed down to my heel. Strange that I haven't been doing it all along, I remember vaguely that that is how I used to have my leg. I really got sucked into thinking that everything should be relaxed.

By bearing down and having my legs on, my canter transitions felt enormously better. I was not left behind at all. Yay!

A quick note: I went out on Sunday and it threatened rain so I only got to walk around for about 15 minutes. I am sure that Breezy enjoyed that. I got home at 5:30 to find that my washer had exploded and ruined a lot of the laminate flooring that we had put down only six months ago. Nice, eh?

Close Call

I almost had a meltdown at work yesterday when it started raining like crazy at around 1 PM. I mean seriously, two weeks in a row? Thankfully at 5PM it was gorgeous out and I headed to the barn fully expecting to find a mostly soaked Breezy covered in dirt. I was happily surprised to find my expectation only half true, not wet just head to toe filthy : )

I hurried to clean her up as the sky, while clear over me, was looking like it wanted to crowd around barn. I decided to wear my tall boots to start beaking them in and I also thought I'd leave the riding crop in the barn so I could really concentrate on using my leg to get her to wake up.

Once on it took me a minute to get my feet in the stirrups as they felt so different in the boots. I really must wear them more. We went for a walk around the barn then went to the ring which was newly mowed (yay!). We walked over some ground poles that the owners put down and saw that they had also gotten some cones which I will really have to rearrange and play with.

Somethings I noticed about starting the trot with Breezy: If it's the very first trot of the day she seems really short strided and rides that way for a couple laps around the ring; Most upward transitions to the trot are preceded by a hopping step, like a mini canter step; Too many of our downward transitions from the trot seem to be heavily on the forehand, like she's digging in with her front feet instead of stopping with her butt.

This session I really tried to keep my head up at all costs, no more looking down! There is nothing to see down there, fer god's sake! I also made a conscious effort to keep my hands closed. No more 'soft' open hands.

Although Breezy wasn't acting like a clown yesterday like she was last week, I am starting to notice more when I have lost her attention. She likes to look around, slow down, and take swipes at greenery. To keep her from getting bored I worked on her straightness by trotting her directly at trees, which I think she thought was pretty interesting since I wouldn't ask for a whoa until we were right on top of it. We worked on some more bending by doing some spirals which she seemed to like. I also did some serpentines mostly for my sake, trying to develop some better timing of my diagonal changes.

We did get a little canter in though I was a little wary of the footing. I've decided that I am just not coordinated enough with my aids when asking for the canter. I think I get tense, set my hands, twist, lean forward and just generally suck. I think my body thinks it needs to DO something to make her go when in my head I know that if I just relax and ask correctly that she will do it. Argh, I will work on it. I think part of my problem as well is I am not sure which aids I should be giving to get the canter from her. I need to experiment more precisely with what makes her go.

I have a lesson tomorrow that I am vaguely dreading. We'll see how it goes.

Monday was nice!

Yay! I actually had a nice ride yesterday! It was gorgeous outside and amazingly enough Breezy was just fine, not even a hint of touchiness.

Just to be sure though, we walked for a good twenty minutes before we started any trot work. Most of our trot work consisted of transitions, circles, and maintaining an even rhythm. I think I will bring out the bell next time we work on rhythm. We cantered a little bit in each direction to wake up some and then did more trotting.

I tried the posting trot using only one stirrup in each direction. Let me just say...freaking hard!!! I just don't know what to do with my legs! What do I grip with? Is the grip I've got going on correct? Who knows? I also walked in two point with no stirrups. Same thing... what is correct? I will ask Liz on Friday when I take my lesson.

I do not think I am working hard enough, I am barely sore today.

Argh!

It is Monday again and I haven't ridden since last Monday (not completely true, I rode for a little while on a little mare called Cokie but only briefly).

On Friday it was beautiful outside and I went out to ride. I pull Breezy from the field and start to clean her up and notice that her whole back is very sore to the touch. Why!? This has happened before under almost the same circumstances. I rode on a Monday, it rained on Wednesday and Thursday, and then on Friday her back was really tender. We thought then that maybe she may have slipped in the field while roughhousing with Jewel. Perhaps she did it again.

So after cleaning her up I walked her around a little bit and let her graze then put her away.

She didn't seem off or depressed or anything, just sore.

I didn't go out on Saturday or Sunday so that she could recover and I could get some things around the house accomplished.

I will go out today and hopefully get on for a nice ride.

Rainy Wednesday

Unfortunately, it rained all day on Wednesday and so I did not go out to the barn. It is raining heavily today too but it is supposed to stop by mid-afternoon so that I will have no excuse not to run.

I am definately riding on Friday. Hopefully the weather will be nice. I will do that canter work I was going to do on Wednesday and then work on me some by riding with only one stirrup. On Saturday I will try to ride with no stirrups.

In the afternoon on Friday I am going to go out with Jen to visit the farm that she is taking some lessons at. Maybe I will get to ride out there as well.

Monday's Ride

I got out to the barn a little after 5 PM and found a whole lotta people clearing tree debris and several piles of debris burning in the pastures. So instead of grabbing Breezy right away I sat in the barn a while and cleaned my jumping saddle until they went away.

Once everyone was gone I collected Breezy from the paddock and set to cleaning her up. She was filthy. I knew by the time I had her tacked up that she was going to be a little nutty so instead of hopping on by the barn, I threw the mounting block over the fence into the grass ring that I was going to ride in.

I walked Breezy from the barn to the ring all the while she was blowing and looking hard in the direction of the new horses, mostly the stallion. With her head in the clouds she was spooking at all the new things that were laying around the property owner's house, which she normally takes in stride. I walked her around the ring until she settled down.

Once I was up she seemed to be ok and we walked around for about ten minutes just warming up. Whenever she would get too excited and started walking with her head way up in the air I would make her circle or leg yield in the opposite direction of where she wanted to look. When we started trotting I did a lot of circles, serpentines, leg yields, and changes of direction to keep her moving and thinking about what she was doing. I think that Breezy's extra energy was helpful in our exercises as she was able to maintain some impulsion through the turns and circles rather than me having to constantly ask for it.

We are still working on maintaining a consistant pace at the walk and trot on the rail and in figures.

I am working on keeping my hands from drifting across the withers during turns and bends. I have also noticed that my focus tends to drift in and out while I am riding. I find myself looking down alot as well as hunching a bit. Egads! They go together! So does getting left behind (which I feel I sometimes do during the trot)! I knew this blog would help me out!

We didn't do any canter work because I just wasn't feeling very tight with my legs at the trot and so I focused on that instead. I tried to feel myself being pushed out of the saddle and onto my thighs and then down into my heels. I am trying to figure out what it should feel like when posting the trot without stirrups. I know I should just do it.

I was thinking about my leg/seat last night after riding and I think I came up with why my leg is "ineffective." I think it is especially bad during transitions because I have always been taught to kick and when I think kick my leg comes up and I use my heel. I think, from what I have read, that I should be squeezing with my upper calf instead of bringing my heel up. So my leg looks good because I have been taught that that is what it is supposed to look and feel like but my leg is ineffective because I have not been taught nor have I practiced how to use my leg to give aids properly. It does seem like a pretty common problem though...leg creepage sucks.

After all that trotting, I am sorry to say, I was pretty pooped and ended the ride with some walk, halt, walk transitions.

I am running today and so won't be able to ride til tomorrow. I am thinking that I will work on walk, canter, walk transitions and maybe some figures at the canter. Figure eights with a simple change of lead and circles. I will have to look in my arena exercises book for some other ones. I will definately keep it simple for now. I am really trying to go for consistency and good figures. I think I will break out the traffic cones.

Friday, I think I will work without stirrups...

An Introduction

Welcome to my blog! Hopefully this blog will be a place where I can hash out my adventure back into the equine world.

Actually, that sounds too fancy. Really what I've decided I need to do is keep track of my riding so that I'm able to see what needs to be worked on, what works, and where I need to go.

So let's see, here's a brief history up to this point:

I rode at East Wind Farm in Melbourne, Florida for about three years with a lady named Gail when I was a teen. Her instruction in hunt seat riding instilled in me the value of good horsemanship, a good seat, and quiet hands.

This past summer (eleven years later) I got hit with the bug again, bad. My best friend and I started volunteering at Millcreek Farm, a retirement home for horses, and I knew that I had to get back in the saddle. I looked around and found a place to take lessons. I was very excited and very nervous. I was wearing a helmet that was about 15 years old! I ended up taking three lessons with this lady and enjoyed them very much but for whatever reason we couldn't get on a good schedule that fit the both of us, on top of the fact I was planning a wedding, so I stopped going.

After my wedding I started looking for lessons again. I found another place that is a lot closer to my home and took a couple lessons which I also enjoyed. I was planning to stick with this person for a while but I found an amazing deal. A half lease for $100 a month that would allow me to ride whenever I wanted. Not needing much encouragement, I went out and met the lessor and her horse Breezy. It was a done deal.

That was this past December. Between then and now Breezy and I have been getting to know each other and we have slowly but surely been getting back into riding shape. She had not been getting ridden much for four months or so and though I was running and riding a bit those riding muscles were not all there.

A month ago I started taking lessons again with a lady in Williston because I wanted to improve upon what I had been doing with Breezy. She rides and trains some very beautiful hunters. My first lesson went pretty well. I rode a gigantic warmblood mare who was in heat and who had very little interest in the tiny thing on her back. My second lesson was on a gelding named Spanky who I could barely get to canter and once I did promptly fell off! Wah! With my confidence shaken a bit (my instructor noted that my legs, though they looked good are "ineffective") I got back on and got the canter. I have another lesson scheduled with this lady and she said it was back to the lunge line for me : )

Which is great, actually, because a couple days after falling off of Spanky I fell off of Breezy while on a trail ride with her mother! Everything was fine until Breezy got it in her head that we were on our way home. Then she started getting anxious walking quickly with her head up and ears pricked. While I felt her energy I wasn't worried about it because she has always shown herself to be a very laid back horse with little to no spook in her. Well, we had just gotten on to the side of a road when a truck pulling a noisy stock trailer drove by and she decided it was time for a good spook. So I went from relaxing on an energetic walk to half out of the saddle during a quick stop and spook to doing a tuck and roll when she decided to skedaddle out from under me. Lucky for me, the guy pulling the stock trailer stopped and ran out in front of my quickly fleeing mount or else I would have had to get into running mode real quick like to catch Ms. Breezy who apparently thought she was being pursued by horse eating monsters.

Two times in a week is quite enough to make one think that there is something missing from the old riding tool bag.

Oh well, I am still getting back up into the saddle and that is what counts. I got to work with Breezy and her inattentiveness yesterday when I rode for the first time since a couple of new horses moved into the barn, a gelding and a stallion. I think it is the stallion that she has her mind on, go figure.

More to come as I am riding this afternoon. Today's goal : maintaining attention in the big grass ring nearer the stallion. Perhaps I will lunge first...