In the Arena #142 - Threw me for a loop...

(warning - long catch-up post ahead)

I am so not good with control issues. No - really. Not good. Another in your face horsemanship lesson. Lame horse + lame weather really got me down. I couldn't fix Val - I couldn't pinpoint what was wrong - and I was mostly stuck in the Shimmy Shack worrying - for a flipping month. There certainly was plenty of time for blogging, but my heart was not in it. All better now.

During the incarceration, there was also plenty of time to review video of our last few rides before Val went off. Who knew you could obsess over look at video frame by frame? I should have explored my editing software a long time ago. Initially there was the lure of lifting stills, but soon I realized how the technology could fill the gap of my current lack of instructor.

Biggest revelation *eye roll* - my contact was not steady... not consistent. The tension on the reins came and went. Bouncy. At times I had so much contact on the outside rein that I pulled the bit through Val's mouth. This tells me that in my efforts not to pull him around, I am (still) abdicating contact on the inside rein. Classic over-compensator. Not a new issue for me, but one I must figure out how to conquer.

A good thing - the absolute instant that I looked up, asked for more energy and felt the reins through my bent, point, heavy elbows Val's back came up and he reached into the contact. The bad thing - it literally only happened for an instant at a time. (at least I'm not totally imagining it lol)

Slack in reins, sticking out butt and leg turned out

Chair seat, piano hands

Better, but leg too far back

New header pic!

It is really helpful to be able to isolate moments in time and then have continuity also. I usually know what I should be doing, but have struggled with position issues that are hard to nail down without eyes on the ground. I think I am asking one thing, but my pesky body puts it's two cents in. Poor Val. Now I am hopeful that I can close the feedback loop occasionally.

We've begun a rehab program consisting of weekly mini trims (by me) and working on the nearby paved road to ramp up the circulation in Val's feet. Life in the sand paddock + arena hasn't done him any favors. I want the landing toe first business to end. The beginning of the walk is over some gravel, and on our first trip he buckled when we hit that stretch. Definitely ouchy. This week he seems more comfortable, and very happy to be out and about. Licking and chewing while clip clopping alongside of me. The occasional patch of tasty greens doesn't hurt either.

On the training front, there is some hopeful news. My friend N (we studied with the same trainer for years) has found a woman who teaches in the style of Mary Wanless - biomechanics and position oriented. My plans to try her out were foiled this month, so we'll try again in April. It's a bit of a road trip, but should be fun with company, and doable on a monthly basis. Fingers crossed...

We've had a few decent rides despite the weather and Val's feet. One was a bareback in the halter with exceptional steerablilty - first time that's happened. And yesterday we had a full length schooling session, bareback again. I focused on being consistent with the contact, and ended up working on no stirrup posting. (sore today) The solid month of no work has done a number on Val's topline, affecting his comfort under saddle, so for the time being we'll be barebacking. Fine with me - my seat is so much better without the saddle.

Spring is here :D

*Thanks to our new followers - there have been a number of you lately. I have tried to locate and visit everyone whose blog I can find. If I haven't found your blog, please leave a link in the comments. :D

In the Arena # 130 - Blessings in disguise...

It's been three (long, hard, hot) weeks since we lost Sweet Pea. The household is adjusting to her absence - some better than others. I've finally stopped expecting to see her when I come home.

Q is enjoying:

the entire sofa
no competition for food, real or imagined
longer, speedier dog walks and more of them...

If she could talk she would be saying, "Mine all mine!"

Then there was the renewal day for our boarding contract. The day after I put my dog to sleep. Boarder Mom took exception to abiding by the terms regarding giving notice. I offered to compromise by halving the notice period, but requiring payment up front for the remainder of the time, as well as notice in writing. BM refused to (re)read the contract or comply, and tried to argue with me about why she didn't owe me notice or money.

When I didn't give in, the situation escalated into an ear load (mine) of cursing and nasty personal insults. On my front porch. On my property. I had enough, and gave BM 24 hours to get Cowboy and their belongings out. I believe she was a little surprised completely shocked that I called her bluff. Best of all, I did not say or do anything I regret - which is an eff-ing miracle. I will miss Cowboy and his girl, but not pushy BM or having to beg for my board every month. The peace and quiet, the utter lack of drama at the farmette, has been soothing.

Losing the boarding income is daunting, but once I factored in having my second storage shed back, which is now filled with enough hay to last until February, it was easy to justify the loss of boarding income. Amount boarders owed = price of a new shed. :D

Even more than the financial implications, I was concerned about how Val would handle being a solo horse again. I'm not ready to add to the herd just yet, although that is the eventual plan. No worries about my darling Val. He has been super relaxed since being on his own.

He lays down to sleep every day. His vigilance while out of the paddock is minimal. The last time I took Val to the boarding property next door, he ran himself into a complete lather and acted ridiculous, responding to Cowboy going to crazy town, screaming from his paddock. Yesterday, we walked over there on a totally loose lead, his head down, following at my shoulder. He calmly investigated the area before rolling and having a good graze while I cleaned up after the horses that stayed over the weekend. Like night and day.

The footing in the arena is unsuitable for work again - deep and soft - so today I lunged Val out in the open, in the scary back of the property (site of future arena). It went very well. Val focused on me and gave me an energetic over-tracking walk. I'm going to set up a rectangle with cones and start riding out there this week. We've both lost some condition over this long summer break, so we're going to come back into work slowly. Shorter sessions, more often.

I have gotten a number of rides in recently. All bareback, several with no tack at all. SO lucky his back is comfy. One ride was on the spur of the moment after a lingering scratch / massage session, where I climbed the gate and hopped on barefoot (no helmet either - I promise I'm not making a habit of it). I got the urge to act like a kid on a pony, and followed through. We did some nice turns on the forehand. It was relaxing and fun for us both. The only bad thing that happened was when Val turned around while I took a picture and put most of my foot in his mouth. What a hoot he is.

Stay tuned for - our first real trim (by me), we are what we eat, and yet another snake encounter (!)

Okay - the mane is getting out of control...

About to put my foot in his mouth...

In the Arena # 123 - Getting my head around it... At the Farmette # 8 - No rest for the weary...

There have been two rides since my less than elegant dismount last week. The bumps and bruises have healed, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel some trepidation when mounting up again.

I threw on the bareback pad a few days later for the first ride. Val wasn't particularly calm. I reckon I wasn't either - surprise! Nonetheless, it was a decent ride. One little scoot, and then things went smoothly. I focused on sitting deeply, in my horse.

The next evening, after doing some effective ground work, I impulsively led Val over to the mounting block and hopped on, sans tack. I'm lucky Val is relatively comfortable even without a pad. No shark fin withers on my boy, so no wither wedgie. We motored around the arena, relying on legs and seat only. An un-pulled mane comes in handy sometimes. It was a divine ride. I felt close to my horse, physically and mentally.

The plan is to do a real schooling ride this weekend. Tacked up, and revisiting the trot / canter transitions with equanimity, and intention. After processing what happened leading up to my fall, I believe the issue was me being thrown (no pun intended) by sticky transitions, becoming frustrated and most importantly getting off of my seat. When the shenanigans started I was already unbalanced. A good but hard lesson to learn.

The rest of my week centered around the weather and the garden.

There have been the most intense skies happening along with the numerous thunderstorms lately... thankfully, as we were getting a little drought-ish in April. Seems like we may be returning to a more normal pattern of late afternoon and evening thunderstorms relieving the excess moisture and energy built up in the atmosphere. A dicey pattern when ventilating your home depends on crank up vents on the roof...

In the gardens, weeding and picking off pests is a never ending process. One benefit to the early spring and moving my beds around, the tomato / tobacco hornworm caterpillars have struck out. Suckahs! Also, I found a newly hatched hornworm moth, wings not even pumped up yet, which was promptly relocated.

The hose came in handy to jet away aphids attacking my (delicious) sugar snaps. The radishes are harvested. Note to self - next time succession planting would be a good idea. My carrots are coming up nicely. I experimented with transplanting some of the thinnings - supposedly not possible to do. We shall see.

The mighty Kubota spent the weekend again, so I was able to turn all the manure piles. The new bed is going gangbusters. Thank you Val for making some awesome dirt. I swear you can (almost) watch the tomato plants growing. I have been saving those plastic-y feed bags, with the plan of bagging up composted manure for sale next year. I thought I'd turn them inside out, leaving a clear space to put some kind of logo label.

Enjoy some photo spam...

 

 

wee little carrots

no one needs this many radishes

this kind of cloud formation (wall cloud) usually makes water spouts...

isn't he lovely...

In the Arena # 115 - Forward is forward, and no such thing as too many treats!

The unseasonably warm weather has pushed my landscaping  / farmette schedule forward by several weeks. Everywhere you turn there are chores to do!
 
My electrician is scheduled to come this weekend (!), and I've got more garden to put in, so opportunities to ride may be limited. So far the sugar snap peas, radishes, carrots and leek seeds are planted. I discovered six pepper plants that overwintered hiding under the wretched mat of weeds I had to remove from last years beds. I must confess that after the hurricane, I was disgusted with gardening and neglected the beds all winter. My prize for the arduous weeding sessions was finding these established peppers.

We've snuck in two rides this last week. Responsibility to work or to riding - seems like an easy choice - but it's not.

Ride one. After a nice warm-up on the buckle, I focused on getting an immediate response from the smallest aid possible. I hope I'm not imagining that this phase of the ride is becoming briefer and easier. But still necessary. Forward into contact just won't happen without my addressing how Val responds to my aids at the beginning of the ride.

Next we worked the big walk, timing of that aid, and got some nice baby leg yields as well, which makes walk work less boring. I was reminded (once again) that when I give the leg and rein aids that I wish Val to move away from, I must also give him space with the opposing leg and rein - space to move into. The space is slight, and I find each ride I can make it slighter. Maybe one day it will just be the idea of space.

I also chose to focus on the quality of my contact - steady and following, which equals reliable, to Val. We proceeded on to trot transitions. Things were going smoothly when invader cat chose to have some sort of loud attack in the woods beside the arena. Val spooked slightly. I asked him to go back to work, and tried not to pay attention to the cat noises. Val requested that we work in such a way that he could keep an eye on things. He asked politely, and I thought it a fair request, so I arranged the figures to accommodate him. He thanked me by getting right back on track. Teamwork.

Ummm, you best be getting the treats my lady!

After the ride I marched Val right out the front gate and took a trail walk down the beach trail. Not super far - due to clouds of mosquitoes, but without hesitance on Val's part. He was with me 100% despite the fact that Cowboy was screaming his head off and running himself into an absolute lather. Val's response was minimal. I turned him out into the property next door, which I care for and which has some decent grazing. He did a few maneuvers, left some impressive divots in the paddock, but again he came right back when I asked for his attention. What a goooood boy!

Our other ride was an another impromptu, virtually tack free, spur of the moment (not entirely safety conscious) ride. As we made our way around the arena, Cowboy threw a hissy fit behind us - which has become a regular occurrence when I ride bareback anymore. My knees felt a little shaky, but it was mostly a non issue. My several months of only bareback rides has given me a much more secure seat  - I'm thankful to say.

When we weren't riding, Val and I had a number of massages, some deep grooming, and fun! We worked more on clicker training. Val thinks this is THE BEST THING EVER since it involves numerous treats. He caught on very quickly, and offered to target other things besides the cones - such as the jolly ball and mounting block. I haven't thought about "constructive" uses for our clicker work yet, but I can tell that Val enjoys the interaction.

There are subtle changes in our relationship these days. Val often runs to the gate to see me when I get home after work. He follows me around while I muck the paddock, tugging at my hoody and offering grooming. We can groom and tack up without even a halter sometimes, and ground tied most times. We're moving along slowly, but we are moving along. :)

In the Arena # 112 - Guess what we did today...

 

 

:D  :D  :D