At the Barn #58 - Measurements, smeasurements... In the Arena # 116 - As the world turns...

Rundown on the electric project:

Dug a (200 ft x 8 ") trench. Had a trencher to dig the first three inches - the rest I had to hand shovel. Glued and laid conduit in trench.

 

 

 

 

 (So - at one point in the planning stages, I had given an estimate of the length of service wire (pricey) needed to get from power pole to studio. I said 200 ft should cover it. A piece of wire of undetermined length arrived.)

"Should we measure the mystery wire? I have a rolling measuring tool!"

"No - we don't want to unroll the wire. That would be stupid."

Ran fish wire through the conduit. Fish wire got bound up a little over half way through. Had to dig out and cut conduit. Had to unroll wire to push it through the conduit. Measured the unrolled wire. (168 ft) measured the length of conduit laid. (172 ft) Add in what runs up the boxes. (10 ft)

I made a few calls and found a scrap piece of service wire just a minute down the road. Had I been forced to drive 1 1/2 hours to the nearest Home Depot and back...

Upshot on the electric project:

I now have properly connected power to my studio, a couple of weatherproof outlets on the outside of the building, a breaker box and an outlet inside my studio. Running wire, fixtures, lighting on the barn and rewiring the tack room will happen at some point in the future.

It was an absolutely exhausting weekend. I learned a lot about rigging up electricity, and cooperation. While I sure don't want to make the connections at the poles and to the breaker boxes, the rest of the job wasn't too difficult. (And the dogs had a blast!!)

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Val and I had a beautiful ride today. After reading smazourek's thoughtful post about neck reining and dressage, I headed out to the barn pondering turning, steering, reins - neck and not.

I have been taught "inside leg to outside rein." My best understanding is the inside leg gives the aid to turn (and leg yield), as well as something for the horse to bend around. The outside rein affects balance and carriage (half-halt), and stabilizes the neck. While you don't pull the head around with the inside rein - lead the horse by his nose - neither must you abdicate contact on the inside rein - it balances the outside rein contact - "Keep the neck straight!" and creates bend. 

"The rider must learn to guide (or 'steer', or 'turn') the horse mainly with the seat and legs, driving the horse in the required direction, and with the outside rein. Though both reins are an essential part in the "orchestra" of aiding whilst guiding, they play only a relatively small, passive laterally stabilizing, framing (channeling) role of the horse's neck and shoulders. Erik Herbermann

I have not worked much on bending with the inside rein, as I arrived to dressage with a healthy case of "inside rein-itis," which rears it's ugly head when I get flustered or stop concentrating, though I may be ready to experiment with bending now. So far it has been safer for me to do as little as possible with the reins, other than concentrate on contact.

Speaking of contact - I took much more of it than usual this afternoon, with very good results. Val did some nice reaching, and used his hind legs. We had decent forwardness off of light leg aids as well. Val's response to my leg is improving every ride. I hardly touched my whip. For the first time in months we did multiple whole circuits of the arena at the trot keeping the tempo steady and with fluidity. Val was super willing, and the ride was super fun. Love my horse!

In the Arena #96 - I "rode the horse I have today".. now, may I please have the one I rode yesterday?!

With the glorious weather still hanging in here Thursday, I was compelled to ride. Canceled an appointment, groomed and tacked, and away we went...

Nowhere. No go button at all. We argued about going forward, which direction to not go forward in, and ultimately which spot to refuse to go forward from. My recent strategy of skipping walk work and moving on to the trot was ineffective. Asking for the trot elicited a series of head shaking crow hops, with some dropped shoulder added in for effect. On a good note I stayed put no problem, and managed to run through my mental checklist instead of worrying into a fetal position.

My last few posts probably conveyed the sinister little undermining sense of disbelief I had at how well our rides have been going, for an extended period of time now, without a trainer. I tried to temper my enthusiasm, knowing that the pendulum would ultimately swing back the other way. Self fulfilling prophecy...

Yesterday was a day that I totally needed and missed the help of a better, wiser rider. I got completely frustrated at not being able to resolve the no go situation in a positive way, with a positive attitude. My mind went to that unhelpful place that predicts bad future events instead of being here now:

"If I don't end this ride on a good note, the sky will fall, and the sun will never shine again, and my horse will be broken. Waaaaa."

I dismounted. And quasi free lunged (chased him around waving my arms) for a few minutes, until I got control of my emotions, and he got with the moving forward program. Bingo.

Deep breath. He licked and chewed, I remounted, and we continued the ride. We did some nice big walking - best walk work we've done yet, he was covering ground. Then we moved out at the trot. I dropped my stirrups and rode on the buckle.*Val was super responsive to my aids. We ended on a very good note, as far as the riding part goes.

Now, here's the worrying part. As far the rider is concerned - I know that I struggle with being consistent in my aiding, with being even in my body, with not giving unintentional aids. The last few months suggest to me that I have become a more competent rider...

So what about Val? I believe his saddle fit is good. The sweat marks are always even and the same on both sides. My trainer inspected the fit and okayed it. Val doesn't react negatively to being saddled or to the girth being tightened. His mouth is great according to his natural balance dentist. He takes the bit willingly, and takes his time letting it go when we untack. He has been getting a nice foamy mouth lately, so I don't think there's a bit problem.

Could something be bothering him physically? He seems sound to me. I can certainly see when I'm not in the saddle that he shows no movement issues. Could he just be testing my leadership? Does everyone have day like this where it seems like they're going backwards? Should riding feel this hard - or more precisely, shouldn't it eventually feel easier?

For my own peace of mind, I'm going to give Val some bute before our next ride, which hopefully will eliminate if there is a physical issue that I've missed. And the next ride after that will be bareback. If the problem stems from my riding, I'm pointing my finger at how my tight right hip affects my seat. *I've noticed that when I drop my stirrups and ride on the buckle at the end of our rides, Val is the most responsive and loose that he ever feels.

I'll keep you posted. The dressage journey is nothing if not interesting and mentally engaging - resisting the urge to whine here - even more so when you're learning solo. :)

In the Arena #95 - ...of mice and men

I've learned to be wary of going into our rides with too much of a plan. I have better results by responding to what goes on in the arena - "ride the horse you have today." However, there is a little strategy I cooked up, and this was the day to try it out.

While we've been improving by leaps and bounds this last couple of months, there is still an unresolved issue. An issue that derails warming up at the walk + steering, and often keeps us from using the whole arena. Recently I've avoided it by moving immediately into trot work, where forward cures steering problems. Bypassing the issue, but not solving it.

Sometimes steering is a monkey on our backs...

As I lay in bed the other night, I visualized beginning a circle at the top of the arena. Instead of closing the circle, I would drop further down the arena, creating a series of loops - sort of an open slinky shape
(sneaky)

This would theoretically accomplish two things: surprise my horse thereby keeping his interest - he's very allergic to predictable - and move me throughout the entire arena at the beginning of the ride, in a roundabout way, without arguments. Holy cow - it worked! Nothing challenges my creativity like dressage.You simply cannot phone it in with a partner like Val.

We proceeded to have a lovely ride focusing on contact, stretchy trot and big walk. Although I struggled with keeping my lower leg on consistently - when I was able, he responded by reaching into the contact. Listen to your horse...

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As I prepared for our ride this afternoon, Val surprised me with a new trick. Each time I glanced up from grooming, he was in the midst of untying his quick release knot. First mouthing the loop, loosening it. Next pulling the end to dismantle the knot. Then finally yanking the whole rope back through the tie ring with a flourish as the leadline dangled from his mouth. He cut glances at me throughout the entire process, looking quite proud of himself. I was supremely bummed not to have my camera handy, although I expect I'll have other chances to document this behavior. Good thing we ground tie now.

I recently got a comment asking about how we work on ground tying. It's pretty simple. I halter Val, then lay the lead rope over his back. I begin grooming, picking feet, bug spraying etc. As soon as he moves a step, I (calmly) stop what I'm doing, send him back to where he started with a light hand on his lead, and resume. This process also involves lots of cookies.

Initially, the exercise consisted of moving Val back into place, over and over. Now - he might take a half-hearted step or two, get put back, sigh, politely drop his head and wait. It's good to set yourself up for success, ie choose a nice calm day when your horse is feeling pretty mellow, practice after exercise, and have a wall, fence or some barrier to limit avenues of escape. How do you all do it?

In the Arena #65 - There are no bad rides... OR the kiss of death might have been when I set up the video camera...

We're expecting crappy weather for the weekend. Yesterday was for sure the day to ride. After cleaning up, I pulled out some fresh hay. Val moseyed into the run-in after me. I groomed and tacked him up while he ate lunch. I didn't even have to halter or tie him, he just hung out for the procedure.

Things were going swimmingly. Our warm up was smooth, but gradually I lost the ability to steer. Ran through the usual reasons, trying to address and correct them, but just could not get it together. Val and I began arguing, and I was unable to muster the presence of mind to resolve the situation. (In retrospect, a healthy dose of forward was likely the answer.)

I became so frustrated that I finally ended up having a meltdown in the center of the arena. Sobbing, tears running down my face. (Not trying to be dramatic - just fessing up.) I've been under a ton of pressure lately, and apparently it's affecting my riding. Worst of all, I was taking it out on my horse. Bummer.

Val patiently waited for me to calm down. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE MY HORSE!! Then we began walking quietly around the arena while I sniffed, hiccuped and generally felt sorry for my self. A bit of a pity party... Well what do you know, suddenly there were no steering issues. The tension in my body had melted away. My seat felt totally connected. Val was relieved. He began to snort and reach. We moved on to some very nice trot work, with lots of two point, and many transitions. Nothing video worthy, but solid work.

Interestingly, Val eventually walked over to the gate, put his nose on the latch, and asked to go out. I opened the gate, and we rode back to the small (fence-less) arena. Since there have been steering and brake issues on our last few outings, I thought that should be the focus for our outside the arena work. There were a few sticky moments, but I coped better than earlier on. I stopped myself from asking for too much, (why is this so hard?) and rewarded even the smallest step in the right direction. In other words, I was patient. It didn't take long to get on track this time.

As we made our way back, Cowboy challenged us by lunging out from behind his run-in, racing the fence line, and generally acting foolish. He ambushed us, charging around at the blind corner beside our gate, which left Val hesitant to enter. As we were in a narrow area hemmed in by my truck and the hitching post, I backed him up, circled a few times, chastised Cowboy, and tried again. Success ;)

Lessons... while we are almost always the cause of riding problems - we are always responsible for resolving them. And with perseverance every ride can be salvaged.

In the Arena #63 - Every little bit helps...

Thursday afternoon we took another walk around the property. There's a loop / trailer turnaround adjacent to my place, that connects up to the new mini trail next door. (the turnaround would make a great galloping track at some point) I grazed Val around the loop a few times, and then ventured onto the trail.

We investigated up and down. It's uneven and needs grooming. Lots of roots, downed branches and holes. I'm really glad we didn't try it under saddle the first time. The only problem we had was when a bird flew up out of the brush right beside us. We both startled, and Val did his stamp all four feet really hard spook. His left front landed on my right front. Once again living on a sandy island has it's benefits... no mud, easy to scoop poop and my foot sank down and didn't get too smashed up. Val took his foot off my foot immediately, and looked at me like - so sorry mom - did I do bad? I was super happy that he didn't rear, spin and bolt, or even pull on the lead at all, and told him so. I thought it was real progress. Very proud of my guy :)

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Friday was absolutely gorgeous weather. Sunny, 70's and a warm breeze. The tractor repair work my dad and I were doing that morning seemed to drag on and on and on. I suppressed the urge to repeatedly check the time. And to act impatient. The job that pays the bills is more important than riding after all...

The minute I could slip away I headed to the barn, groomed and tacked Val up. He wasn't particularly calm during the process, and seemed to be preoccupied with what goes on through the woods next door... cue extra scary soundtrack. I mounted, and we spent the first ten minutes arguing about the usability of about thirty percent of the arena. It got to the point that Val was popping up a little bit and wheeled around to avoid the area.

Now, I know that our steering issues are generally almost always related to me, blocking, being stiff and/or unclear in my aids. I also know that yesterday the issue was Val's and geographical in nature. I found myself starting to get impatient and frustrated (hormonally challenged) so I dismounted. I led Val to the area where we proceeded to walk, halt, and soften, with some backing and standing practice thrown in. He was very nervous. It took some work to get his attention on me and away from next door, the source of all scary stuff. I focused on my breathing as well. After a few minutes, I remounted and we continued with our session. 

Vast improvement. We used the whole arena. We got our biggest big walk yet. We had some lovely trot work with reaching, picking up of back and taking rein from me. Only on the long side away from the area of course, still a giraffe on the scary side, but I'll take it. I focused on supporting him through the turns with my legs and half halts. Still lacking coordination (me) on this, but there is improvement. To finish up we weaved through the cones trotting on loose rein - steering with my legs. We even made some foam :)

We meandered around on the buckle a bit to cool off. Then on a total whim, and because I have been obsessing about not boring Val with tedious drilling, we rode over to the gate, and opened it. Our second try. I still wouldn't quite call it side passing but he was great about moving exactly where I asked him to.  Then we rode though the gate and out for another little solo trail ride. 

I let him decide where he wanted to go... to the back of the property, not into the smaller arena, back up front along side Cowboy who was being a bit of a pita, and out the front gate. Totally his idea. At this point steering got sticky. He really wanted to graze in the neighbors yard, which I didn't think was a great idea. He went anyway. I (patiently) got him turned around and heading towards our place again. Then my camera bag fell off, so I dismounted to retrieve it, and figured it was time to call it a day. No place to remount from anyway... What a good boy!!

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The rest of the day in pictures...

 

In the Arena #23 - Progress

Beautiful, beautiful day... fall is knocking at the door!

I stole a couple of hours around lunchtime and had a very productive ride. Looking straight through not at my horses ears and having an exact destination in my mind really helps with our steering issues. We were motoring around quite nicely today. Things were going well so I decided to move on to the trot... sometimes you can get the most energetic walk when you really want a trot lol!

There was some resistance when I asked for the trot... head tossing and crow hopping. I focused on staying on my seat and persisted quietly with lots of positive reinforcement. We did several transitions and I quit on a good note - but I could tell something wasn't quite right. After dismounting I saw that my saddle had slipped forward onto Val's shoulders - a couple of inches of the sweat marks from under the saddle pad were visible. I have been experimenting with how much to tighten the girth - apparently today was too loose... lesson learned.

In the Arena #22 - Notes from our lesson weekend

Lesson one - Saturday afternoon. We focused on steering... sometimes a sticky business. To make the exercise more interesting, I practiced zigzagging the arena, traveling to, from and around the dressage cones, making sure that we were very accurate. Way more fun than circles... (or eggs and ovals lol). Val is the type of horse that responds well when his mind is engaged.. so it's my responsibility to keep our work creative and stimulating. I must be absolutely clear in my mind and with my aids, about where I want to go. Clarity... always looking straight through my horses ears with a soft gaze... and no twisting my torso or shoulders. Keeping my hands low and following - making changes in contact through my elbows.

Sunday's lesson began with steering as well. We built on the work of the day before and got to a point in the lesson where we were adjusting our direction with precision and subtly. We transitioned into some flowing smooth trot work, including 20m circles of the round variety in both directions :) What a joy. For the first time, I felt very much at one with my horse... we were doing dressage!

Monday's session was more challenging. After spending about half the lesson building on the progress of the previous days, we regressed back to our steering problems. Actually, I believe that the issue is until I am totally consistent with my leadership, Val is going to be compelled to take over if he feels any hesitation on my part. I must be evenly weighted in my stirrups as well. I have been unwittingly contradicting my turning aides with uneveness which is super frustrating to Val. Also - I must envision what I want to happen (as opposed to what I don't want to happen).

Due to the impending storm, I left Val to board with my trainer. This is the first time I have been away from him since I brought him home, almost a year now. I miss my guy a lot. He's having a good time though, doing horse bonding stuff such as three way grooming over the fence with the chestnuts - Comfy and Howard - shocking as Comfy is the head honcho of the farm. He also disrespected some fencing and found his way into the paddock with the ladies(!). He and Lacey have been flirting with each other for a while. Glad he's safe and enjoying himself, but I can't wait to bring him back home!

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Update -

Got a call from my trainer this morning that Val is very lame on his left front and there is heat and a big pulse. We're hoping it's an abcess... waiting to hear the vet report now. As my friend Jerry says, "Good news. bad news, too soon to tell." I'm super bummed that Val is lame but if he had come back home with a vet worthy issue we'd be in trouble. No vet will come here when there isn't a hurricane breathing down our necks. In fact, any issue needing treatment of any type would be a huge problem. Anxiously awaiting my trainer's call...

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Another update -

Good news! Val has bruising of his sole... not super visible to look at but evenly tender to the hoof tester over half of his foot. He's in a hoof boot and has had some bute. I guess the combo of a very recent trim and working on hard ground... perhaps the giant 15 minute #*@& fit he had when he couldn't see his buddies?! Time for some venice turpentine I reckon... what a relief :)