In the Arena #157 - Two birds with one stone, or in defense of the ottb...

Finally, something to jog me out of the place where everything I tried to write for this blog -

sounded whiny,

sounded boring,

was complaining,

was complaining about the stupid weather, which = whiny + boring.

[With any luck, this post will conveniently combine catching up on the past year's worth of never published posts, with a blog renaissance. To anyone who has continued to stop by and see if we're still breathing - thank you.]

Recently I came across several posts and comments out there about knowing what horse is right for you, knowing when a horse is not right for you, which types of horses are right for which people... it got me thinking. So here's our story.

I am the owner of a 2002 model ottb. He was found for me by my trainer at the time (as a seven year old), whose school horses were nearly all thoroughbreds.

I had invested in four years of dressage lessons with her. For a few summers before that I was a trail guide. Lots of barn watching and catch riding. By no means a super confident rider, but I felt ready for horse ownership, with my trainer's guidance.

Was Val crazy / wild / hot when I got him? No. He had three years off the track (trained, injured I suspect, never ran), eventually doing hunters, some low level jumping, and recovering from injuries before we met. Could he become crazy /wild / hot? Yes. He wasn't above exploiting my lack of leadership and my inexperience.

Less than a year passed before my trainer lost her farm and moved away. Living in the middle of nowhere means that finding any dressage trainer at all is tricky. Finding the kind of person I want to work with - not "putting the horse in a frame", not seesawing on his mouth, not using gadgety tack, but improving rider skills / seat / feel by listening to the horse - even trickier. The nearest candidates are 5 - 6 hours away.

We had some setbacks, and made some progress too. Slow, micro progress, but it was ours alone, and we earned it. Then, summer before last, I was overjoyed to finally find a biomechanics trainer. After a few successful road trips for lessons on her horses, I scheduled a mini-clinic so I could take Val with.

While I was tacking him up for our first lesson, the trainer, in a major hurry, rushed into the stall with me and began to "help" saddle him. He got wiggly. When she scooted around behind him to get out of the way, spooking him and blocking me in, he swung around into me, pinning me at the stall entrance, and breaking the living tar out of my arm.

If that wasn't bad enough, because I'd knuckled under and hadn't insisted on stalling Val upon arrival, (what we had planned initially as there was no dry lot), he was pastured on rich grass - enough to make him super lame on both fronts with raging digital pulses, within 36 hours. In retrospect, this likely added to his behavior while tacking up. What a nightmare.

Fast forward through trailering my horse home seven hours. (one-armed + standard transmission) Through the surgery I couldn't afford. Through missing four months of work from my landscaping job. Through being assured (wrongly), that my injury would be covered by the trainer's insurance. (not without me suing her) Through putting a serious hit on my down payment savings. Through taking care of my horse and farm one armed. Through an extended depression. Through endless groundwork while I recovered my health and my confidence. Through screwing up the courage to ride again...

Fast forward to today. Val standing out in the middle of his paddock. Wind gusting 40 mph. At liberty - no halter, no lead rope - for an hour, while I shed him out, curried and brushed every inch of him. While he showed me where the ticks were (in his man parts) and let me shove my head up in there to find them, and my hand up in there to remove them. While he held up all four hooves for me to pick. While he didn't move one step.

Are we madly rising up the levels? No, but I hop on bareback and feel totally comfortable. Do we trail ride solo? Not yet. But he's super appreciative of my amateur trimming attempts. He'll back up a dozen steps on my hand signal. In close quarters, he (now) respects my space. I can put his blankets on, over his head, out in the pasture, at night. He ground ties. He's awesome at self-loading.

Am I accomplishing what I envisioned when I brought Val home? Not exactly - circumstances have led us down a different path. But I have learned valuable lessons - some painful, some expensive. And I'm a much better horsewoman now.

Are ottbs for everyone? Maybe not. They can be challenging. They require a tactful rider. They're forgiving of your inadequacies, as long as you're humble enough to admit to having them. I have high hopes for finding instruction again, once my house is built. (!) In the meantime, we'll keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Are ottbs for everyone? Depends on the circumstances. But isn't that true about most horse / human combinations?



 

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 # 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.