In the Arena #150 - Back to the drawing board + a super cool contest!

We're on a roll. Sort of.

A synopsis of events since spring:

- Val becomes three legged lame with a never pops mystery abscess. Six weeks gone.

- I learn a painful valuable lesson about girth tightening and bust my a$$. Six weeks down the drain.

- After a crazy month straight of rain every day, (source of abscess), apparently, it will never rain again. Water table historically low - my sand arena... more like a quicksand arena.

- I find L, my new trainer, who is super helpful, but located far, far away.

So now we're working towards an October 18th clinic. L's a student of Mary Wanless and Mark Rashid, specializing in biomechanics. So fortunate to have this opportunity.

The plan of action to prepare for our trip hinges on short term goals:

Daily - confirm forward, focus on contact, pick one other thing to work on for each ride.

Weekly - keep rides short but increase frequency each week. No drilling. Consistency is key.

Monthly - both of us fit, with the basics confirmed, so we can move forward while we have the benefit of several days with a trainer.

Changing trainers has provided an interesting lens to analyze my riding through. One element where there's a glaring difference, is the go button. With OT the aid was calf related. A wiggle of the ankle to lightly brush the barrel with your calf, tap, tap, tap with the whip as backup. NT - more seat/weight oriented, and straight to the whip if necessary. Thigh on, but calf has a whisper of contact. With OT I remember feeling that the motion of my leg was pulling me out of position. With NT, I'm stable.

With L's horse Tom Terrific, it definitely made a difference, because as I struggled not to nag with my leg while asking for the trot - surprise - we went straight to the canter. A bumpy little "not sure if you were asking for this - crazy lady with the spastic legs" canter. After a few tries I moderated my ask and we had a decent trot transition. Hello forward horse + light aids... it's been a while.

Anyhow - that's where we are. My seat is feeling more secure and effective. Val's been relaxed and blowing, tentatively taking contact. My aids are getting lighter, and lighter aids are all that's necessary. Every ride is a little better than the last. We've only got about a third of the arena that's rideable, but throw some cones in to make it interesting and we're cooking with gas.

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If you haven't already, head over to Life of Riley to enter a contest celebrating her 200th post. (with really great prizes) Or don't - better chances for me that way! ;D
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smooches for a good boy

In the Arena #137 - Tack, tackless, and what's in a name....

Saturday arrived, chilly and windy, but still pretty enough. I traded (a steaming bowl of homemade tomato soup + grilled cheese sandwiches with avocado) for another set of pictures of Val and I working.

Val was much better about not locking on to the photographer magnet this time. Again, I let him tell me when he was warmed up. We worked on contact and some baby lateral work.

For the lateral work I aimed for zigzags down the long side - four strides lateral, two strides straight, four strides the other direction. I aimed to  influence Val's shoulders with my arms / the reins, and his haunches with my legs. I focused on making space - with the rein and my leg - on the side we were moving into, equal to if not more that asking him to move off the rein and leg we moving away from. Val was relaxed, seemed to enjoy doing something different and felt like he stepped over (or under) more than in the past. We finished off with some 15m circles, and trot transitions.

While there was improvement in the consistency of the contact, many pictures indicate no straight line from mouth to elbow - broken at wrist, as well as the ever present too long reins. And there are many shots which show me off to one side (left) in the saddle, but overall it was a very positive ride, and Val had some foamy lipstick when he received his post ride cookies.

Yesterday lucky Val got an extensive massage. He really leaned into the shoulder work, stretching his neck out, yawning, chewing and licking. I followed his long back muscles down to his favorite region, the haunches, which he presents to me almost daily for rubs and scratches, then down the backs of his legs. I needed a massage to recover from his massage (those are some big muscles!) but hopped on for an impromptu ride instead. I attached the clip on reins to the chin loop on his rope halter. This arrangement was less than ideal judging from the head tossing, so I put the reins on his neck, and worked from my seat. So - much - FUN!

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I have been meaning to post the story of Val's name. Today Kate at A Year with Horses and Annette from News from Aspen Meadows both posted about horse names and nicknames, so I'll gladly jump on that bandwagon.

Val's registered name is Sinister Wind. While I hate the sound of that name, it is very appropriate for where we live. Hurricanes... nor'easters, etc. I remember thinking it was a bit of a cosmic sign when deciding whether to purchase him. 

His former owner recently mentioned that his barn name when they met him as a three year old was Marty. (thumbs down) His next name was Augustus, Gus for short. Changing Val's name felt wrong to me, but the only Gus I knew at the time was a big 'ol drunk who hangs out down at the docks muttering incoherently (when he isn't already passed out). A no go. 

A deposit held Val for me over the summer after I tried him out - to let his girl ride him until she left for college, and to let me finish the preparations for first time horse ownership. I pondered the name change - uninspired - until a late night cable rerun...

Three words. Tombstone, Doc Holliday, Val Kilmer. 

Val Kilmer from twenty years ago. Hot Val Kilmer. Just sayin'. 

Upon reflection, I was thoroughly embarrassed about naming my horse after an actor crush. After a drug addicted, gambling addicted, tubercular gunslinger. Draw your own conclusions, but I'm guessing I'm attracted to the bad boys. ;D

It took me about two weeks to hit upon the (clever) idea of naming him Valentino, which would then allow me to call him ♡♡♡ VAL ♡♡♡ to my heart's content, and think secretly "I'm your huckleberry..." *sigh*

Turns out it was the perfect name...

In the Arena #135 - Worth a thousand words...

I was lucky enough to have a friend with camera skills stop by for our last schooling session. She took numerous pictures quickly enough to give me an approximation of video as far as assessing my position and the effectiveness of my aids.

Overall, I need to be (more) consistent with my position, shorten my (curse word starting with f) reins, and as always - make sure at the start of the ride that I can use the lightest aids possible. This post should really be titled s-s-d-d...

Jane Savoie detailed a method of evaluating your aids and position during warmup in a recent online symposium which I will post about after the holiday rush is over - promise!

Ready to work

Photographer magnet at work here... 

opening inside rein but refraining from steering with it

The end of a turn on the forehand...

(more like turn on the piano hands)

Decent walking, but not engaged yet -

not enough energy

Don't forget the praise! 

(wake up Val)

Looking better, but I really need to shorten my reins,

and maybe stop posting off the balls of my feet

Yesssss

What a goooood boy!

In the Arena #134 - Ain't nothin' gonna break-a my stride...

So happy to report that we are sticking to our new - taking dressage seriously - work schedule. Five rides, and five non-riding sessions since the last post. (!!!)

One of the unmounted sessions included practicing for our Christmas card picture, which was super fun, as well as a very thorough massage and an intermediate trim session where I practiced my hoof knife skills getting after Val's bars.

My horse is a hoot... seriously.

Another day I intended to ride (dragged ring and dressed) but just as I began to groom, there was crackling from a midday, midweek brush fire next door. (why p-i-t-a neighbor, WHY?) With not a hint of wind, the sound of the fire was extremely loud and incredibly close. This sent Val into the stratosphere. Instead of schooling, we spent several hours on leading work, longeing, finishing up our interrupted grooming, and then a spin around the arena bareback with the halter. Fear banished. It wasn't in the plans, but very productive nonetheless.

After two pleasant bareback rides, I bit the bullet and pulled out the saddle again. I had developed a weird superstitious ridiculous mental block about this, but a conversation with my former trainer got me over the hump. Thank goodness! It was time. We've had several of our most effective rides ever since saddling up again. It seems that Val appreciates my improved balance.

Some high points of our best ride - we had the loveliest warmup on the buckle, with a smooth transition into contact. Our work on school figures - accurate - check. I focused on feeling Val's mouth through my elbows and contact - check. Next I asked Val for a bigger walk. What I got was happy, swinging trot from a minimal aid. Forward - check! Full school, figure eights, working over the back - check! Best of all, I even knew when to stop.

To say I was elated after this ride would be an understatement. Never fear, today's ride brought us right back down to earth. Very good, but I wasn't as even in my seat, and Val reflected my crookedness back to me. The takeaway - nothing new. If I sit in the middle of my horse, am clear in my aids and offer him smooth, elastic, consistent, following contact, the sky's the limit.

This spring we had begun to school the canter depart and did some sitting trot work. A bad fall led to a series of nervous rides with a distinct lack of brakes and security. Summer made the arena almost useless. I decided to work on my balance riding bareback, and rode out in the open to address the steering and brake issues. Basically - we've recovered the ground we lost over the summer - my seat and my confidence are stronger. I am over my period of discouragement. Learning dressage on your own is not for the fainthearted.

Part of our progress is due to Val is feeling better. I suspected that Adequan wasn't doing the trick for him. He spent a lot of time cocking his hips this summer, noticeably increased, seemed uncomfortable during trims when we worked on his back feet and was reluctant to move out sometimes. After considerable research, I switched him to a new medicine - Pentosan Polysulfate - which I will share more about in another post. If the one tempis he did down the fence line yesterday, and his repeated offering of the trot unasked are any indication, it's working. :D

After our ride today, I spent the afternoon on a free two hour teleseminar with Jane Savoie. It was simply packed with useful information. I took extensive notes which will also appear in an upcoming post. Now I just need a few more hours to devote to blogging. At least I'm spending as much time as I can with my horse because horse time = happy time.

In the Arena #133 - The swing of things...

A pair of pretty days magically appeared in the midst of our current storm fest (more on that later) so Val and I got back to work in the arena, freshly leveled and dragged.

We warmed up on the buckle using the full arena with zero balky steering moments. A first! All the bareback work must be paying off - keeping me more centered, even and balanced. I know I'll have to bring the saddle back, but for now the bareback pad is my good friend. My frequent uneven / off-to-one-sided-ness usually reflects itself in steering glitches. It feels good to be conquering this posture problem.

We picked up contact smoothly. I focused on keeping my seat bones plugged in, maintaining elastic rein contact through my elbows, supporting Val with inside leg / outside rein and looking up and through his ears. Val listened to my leg, without needing the whip, when I asked for more energy. I engaged my core to ask for the halt.

We utilized the cones, leg yielding through and turning on the forehand around them. The leg yields worked well as long as I remembered to make space for Val to move into with the inside leg and rein. Basically our ride approached softness. I think Val was glad to be back to work. I was thrilled and couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. Dressage!!

 

The next day was more of the same - and equally successful. We even got the beginnings of some bend. I often have a tendency to throw away the inside rein, but with the correct amount of contact we achieved deep corners and lovely accurate circles. My favorite moment was when asking for a more energetic walk, Val offered me a lovely trot transition, (once again) confirming when I don't block my horse with hands or seat he is happy and willing to be forward.

After a scary fall during our work on the canter this spring, I think am sure I've been guilty of giving Val mixed messages - saying one thing with my voice, legs and whip but the opposite with my hands and seat. Hopefully we're turning that around now. The plan is to get our fitness back plus keep moving toward softness, flow and forward.

  

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So far we've kept up our new five day a week schedule. We've practiced grooming and clipping while ground tied. Clicker trained playing touch-it with scary windy stuff, and even done trail walks combined with patience while clearing away fallen limbs. Challenging in light of this crazy weather...

...because, we're on our third nor'easter since the hurricane. It's been blowing 20 - 30 mph for most of the last three weeks. It seems we're paying for the heavenly fall we had prior to Sandy. Latest word is the (paved) road may not be ready until March. Although we can brave driving during low tide only, daylight only, 4WD only - on the sand, if we don't mind driving through some sea water sometimes... when the road is open. I kid you not.

Taken this morning

Coming soon - tour of the farmette + meet the other residents, the long ago promised trim post, updates on the nutrition / medical front... how not to lose your marbles when you're stuck on the island and the wind won't stop blowing...

In the Arena # 125 - We shall overcome...

Our big excitement this week was the first tropical system of the season - Beryl. Say what?! No, not even kidding.

The beginning wasn't too bad - several hours of blustery winds and torrential rain. Eventually the eye / center of circulation passed directly over us. The moment it cleared us the winds went from 0 to gusts of 70. Tide came roaring out of the sound, and up the streets. People were scrambling to move vehicles to higher ground and attend to their boats. As usual the forecast hadn't called for any of the drastic-ness...

All I can say is if my tomato plants had gotten killed I would have kicked that storm's ass! (I parked my truck to block the main winds from the garden, and it worked.) Actually, all I can say is that if this had been August instead of May, I dread even to imagine the destruction we would have suffered. Island life can be dicey.

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Weather and subsequent footing issues kept us out of the arena until this weekend. Yesterday afternoon I dragged the arena, groomed and tacked up for our first ride in a week. Val tried to convince me that the part of the arena beside Captain Outburst's property was a no-fly zone. I persuaded him differently by practicing leg yields into the area in question. I concentrated on my position, namely opening up my hip angle and getting my leg more underneath me, as well as all the usual non stop self reminders and adjustments.

This morning dawned with bright sunshine and cool breezes. After morning chores and the usual preparations, with extra attention to repelling flies, we got to work. Again, I paid attention to my alignment - ears, shoulders, hips, heels, as well as keeping my elbows at my sides and my eyes straight through Val's ears. As I have no one on the ground and no mirrors, I must rely on Val to let me know when I've got things right (or wrong!), which he gladly does.

Also, I put the cones back into the arena. They really help me to focus on keeping the school figures accurate. After picking up contact and achieving a nicely forward walk, we worked on trot transitions. There was a halfhearted canter stride the first ask, and after that I got the trot when I asked. Once again feeling the rhythm of the new gait was the first go at the transition - leg and crop only if necessary. Overall I think we gained some ground. Apparently it's going to take a while to restore confidence - mine and Val's. We'll chip away at it.

Afterwords Val got a scrubby bath plus a relaxing pick of grass. Then he helped me reinstall the stall awning that got trashed in the storm. He oversaw handling of the tarp, inspected the tools and licked my legs while I was on the ladder. It was a perfectly lovely day with my horse.

 

 

 

 

 

If you turn up the volume, you can hear Val happily snatching away at mouthsful of grass right in front of poor, poor Cowboy...

 and groaning with pleasure - there's nothing like a good roll in the sand.

 

In the Arena # 120 - Putting on the big girl panties...

A pair of rides to report on (finally).

We fit in a nice session on Tuesday while waiting for the farrier to arrive. Our warm-up was very effective, and brief. My focus was on soft, even, continuous, elastic contact. I rode a good deal of the ride with my eyes closed, which helped me concentrate on the feel of the contact. On the open eye parts, I kept my head up, looking through Val's ears where I wanted to go.

We did a ton of transitions, and worked a bit on leg yields as well. In a freshly dragged arena you can definitely see the results of lateral work. I tried to make space for Val to move into by opening my inside leg and rein, and having the feeling of a halt before I asked for the yields. I have a feeling that these will improve at the trot, as many things do when there is more energy.

Our trot work is (still) about more forward without nagging aids. I was very pleased with our school figures - there was fluidity and smooth changes of rein. We finished off with a few walk / canter departs. (dessert!) I even had time to clean all of my tack before W. arrived. Val took a nap on my shoulder as I cleaned. His head is soooo heavy!

On Sunday, guess who showed up? If you said crazy horse, you'd be right! I think he arrived along with the big winds, and the king of super loud cussing next door. (yes, I am once again complaining about my neighbor - I cannot wait until I can afford to screen him off with plants and/or big fencing!)

Val went from ants in his pants during tacking up, to full on nut job who reared and bolted twice, yanking the reins out of my hands and nearly tearing my finger off. (not even kidding) As much as I didn't feel like dealing with it, I knew there was no way I could avoid addressing this behavior, for his or my sake.

We did a some leading work around the arena. I quietly demanded Val's full attention on me - not the swishy trees at back of the property, or the noise and distractions next door. When I had that, I led him to the mounting block and got on. I made sure that I didn't block him with the reins. Lots of quick transitions. Keeping my seat "fat", all three points in contact with the saddle at all times - no perching. Also hugging lightly with my legs. After it was over, I was really glad we rode.

I haven't kept up with blogging as well as I want to these last few weeks. Keeping up with my (actual) responsibilities is super challenging these days. Besides riding, there have been several marathon yard work, weeding, planting sessions topped off today with an all day hay and feed run. (300 miles, 36 bales of hay, 6 sacks of feed, 8 1/2 hours) Plus a few snake encounters - only nice ones.

Oh, and I made a decision about what to name the farm. We're located adjacent to one of the last remaining maritime forests on the east coast, so I think it will be Edgewood. :)

kiss my grass