Western exams!

I passed my theory for level 3 with 88% and my stable management, bandaging, vaccinations, first aid, and ridden test, including a simple reining pattern, with 94%. It sounds better when I explain that it's out of only 35 marks and so I only dropped 2 points :) Plus I only had 5 hour long lessons, each a week apart, in total, and I had never had western instruction before. So I am VERY CHUFFED. I've even bought my first belt buckle!

Next, well, the level 4 exam is TOUGH and I'm not ready for the finesse in the saddle or to give quick enough answers about the rein effects whilst I'm riding! I can think, then do, then think, or I can just do, but without thinking. Explaining the thought process is tough.

Unfortunately Chelsea will not be at our barn for us to train with her for that, so I will have to find some other way around this 'slight' issue!

Mae's bridleless riding was going well until...she went lame in the back this time. Both hind cannons swollen down the sides. Urk. She's on mostly box rest with poultice overnight and ice packs for a period during the day. She has lost weight, which is ace, but this is just another set back :( I was working her indoors with just a neck strap and using my fingers on her neck and my legs and seat to give her direction. I had to exaggerate a lot at first but she was very tolerant and got the hang of it somewhat. Then I took her outside and rode in a halter and leadrope tied to my horn so I could use it if necessary. She needed an occasional rope across the neck, but otherwise was fine. She's not completely Western trained, as far as I can tell. She goes nicely on loose reins, understands an opening rein and a neck rein, although she does still need them together mostly. I trail rode her ponying the child and his little pony and she happily wound around tree stumps with me guiding her one handed as I had the pony's lead in the other.

The stallion's canter, as of Tuesday, was going very well and if tomorrow's session is also nice and three beaty, I am going to try a jump with him. Out on the trails he leaps ditches and fallen trees if you point, say 'hup!' and give him a bit of a squeeze.

deja deja vu?

Tatoum LEAPing into spring!

The Mae saga continues...she's been sound for a few weeks now. Seeming stiffer on cold, damp days, but today and yesterday were very cold and she was good. I've been up on her bareback again and my oh my, last Friday I asked her to 'trot on' and she did. Easily. So she's now trotting and gaiting a little bit every day. She still needs to lose about 100lbs, but it's slow work.

we went to see the neighbour's alpacas. Tatoum was fascinated.

I am still working with the stallion on his horrendous canter. He goes 4 beat or just seems to scramble all his legs at once. I don't think it'll ever be great, but usually the second and third time I ask him in a session he finds it easier. I'd guess he spent most of his life not cantering with a rider on his back, so I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

We had a week of glorious summer last week in southern Quebec. All the snow melted and then the meltwater dried up, apart from in the drainage channels so Tyler and I took as many horses as we could on stream and ditch crossing missions/trails whilst it was hot and the water was running. It was fun!! We were riding in vest tops, in 25c in the middle of March. Heavenly!

Last week I went with the boss to the vet hospital at St Hyacinthe, which was pretty fascinating. Amber has been lame since about last August, without any periods of soundness, so it was decided it was time to sort it out. She had about 5 nerve blocks across both front legs, ultrasounds, radiographs and they used some new gait analysis software. They decided she has old swellings on both front tendons, something stiff in her right hind and possible arthritis in her neck. She's 9 years old...I was pleased that at first they couldn't tell where her lameness was. I used to have to come back after longeing her to tell me boss one day that she was lame in the right, next lame left, next lame behind, next lame in front...I started doubting my eyes for sure!

Finally, I'm studying for and taking my CEF Western Rider exams. I'm having so much fun riding a finished western horse with a coach. I've learnt pretty much everything I ever wanted to know, plus a lot more. I can now walk, jog, lope fast and slow circles, pivot, sidepass, ride one handed, ride two handed - extremely hard to do everything always with both hands! - and I will have the certificates to prove it! I find it hard to ride without nagging with my heels, to trust the horse to make transitions like halt to canter, to keep my reins loose and to not grip too much with my thighs. But I'm doing well. I've passed levels one and two with very good scores and am planning on three in the next couple of weeks. The biggest compliment my coach gives me is 'From just seeing you ride like that, I wouldn't know you were an English rider.' Ha! I would love my old dressage trainer to see me ride western. Fantastic!

Holy Moly!

Mr. Stallion.

Things change fast round here! So, we're taking three Rocky Mountain horses to the Salon du Cheval in Quebec which is an exhibition and competition, although we're just exhibiting. Boss wants to take three different colours, which is fine, except the grulla isn't yet certified and can't really be ridden as her gait is frankly, terribly hard for her to perform. So then there's a chocolate one, she wants to take Ella, who will be ridden western and show trot and gait, except her canter is terrible at the moment, and I am now taking the stallion, little black beauty, who has a canter but I will need to work on it a lot over the next two months. I will also do a couple of small jumps with him. He's got a great 'hup!' on the trail, and if he could just sort his legs out, we'll be able to do it from a canter. He can do poles and tiny little half a foot things but he really does need more balance. They can't jump from a gait as the footfalls are all wrong, and he for sure cannot trot, so it'll be a long road, but I miss jumping, so I'm happy.

This last week has been spring break for the small child so I've not had to do any school runs and consequently have done many trails, amidst the melting snow and ice. Stallion is my mount of choice as Tatoum is mainly schooling and a trail a week, and Mae is still in rehab...he's barely 14hh, but he's all in proportion and he's game as anything. He gets a little spooked by the deep footing at one of the stream-that-never-froze crossings, but he sniffs it out and has a little face splash before thrusting over. We encountered a - in my eyes - much scarier, steeper down, across and up again steep ditch with a big branch across, but there was no running water and after he'd had a quick look, he scrambled down and up most calmly. He then stood whilst I gave myself a lower back cramp, breaking off a large pine branch so the others could follow without braining themselves. He also gamely 'swims' through deep snow. Last week, we accidentally rode into a drift that was up to my stirrups and past his belly. He considered his options, I grabbed my huge pommel and gave him all the rein so he could lurch out. Didn't bother him a bit.



Mae had more lameness the other week so she had another week of reduced turn out and nights in a stall. I then started doing free work with her, mainly at the walk but asking her to trot a bit and she got through a bit of stiffness. She doesn't gait unless under saddle so it's hard to see a problem there. As I've said before, she's ace, so after one session of trotting in big circles, I hopped on her back with just a halter and rope to cool her down. She was incredible. She neck reins, she halts at whoa, she does circles, serpentines, backs up. I even rode her with just a neck rope, which she pretty much 'got' too, although it was a little harder for me to get my messages across. Not her fault! I am very keen to explore this side of her, once she's ready to gait and canter under saddle again. When everything unfreezes, I can also start my walks up and down the lane with her, a nice firm surface is better for their gait-ness.

just sneaking in under the February radar...

ahhh. I've had a day off on this day of extra-ness. I like to spend my days off going to the US and visiting Tractor Supply or Price Chopper for wonderfully American food, or, if i'm feeling especially adventurous, I go to Burlington or other towns in Vermont for a lookaround and a little shopping.

This morning I helped my friend load her reluctant 4 year old who is off to board at her trainer's barn.

The 4 year old is a very nice girl, has only been lightly started and ridden away and is a very nice example of starting a horse slowly and for success. She was keen to get on the trailer, but her hooves kept slipping so she became a little nervous. We packed the ramp with manure, as that was the best non-slip material around, and went at it with two people. She would get two feet on, take a bit of feed and then back off. Nothing flighty or panicky, just that was her rhythm. I did pressure/release and if she backed off the ramp, she got to back up a way further after that. Eventually she came onto the trailer and we praised her and quickly got the back fastened up! When we got to the barn, little girl did not want to back off the trailer. My friend was doing her utmost to persuade, push, coax, physically move, but, as we all know, a human cannot move a horse that does not want to be moved. So, the trainer, also my Western riding guru, said 'use the chain'. A couple of days ago I would have cringed at that, given how I have seen the chain used, but Ms. Guru is a guru for a reason, and her way of using the chain is the gentlest, least fighty way I can imagine. She had her put it on, and just gently apply and release pressure, on, off, on off, asking the horse to move back. She wasn't in the least bit interested, so she asked her with more pressure, on off, on off, and not a couple of minutes after this, she took a step, then hesitated for a while, then after about 5 minutes, she was off. She made her do it again, loading her with the chain this time, but instead of creating a whole load of pressure, as I believed was the way, she had her do pressure/release, pressure/release, ever so smoothly, just taking up the slack and releasing. the horse decided to enter the trailer without the ramp, coming from the side, and it took about 10 minutes, but she did it. Then she did it again, and again, and the last time was almost instantaneous. And this was a horse who had never had a chain on her at all. There was no fuss, no anger, no yanking, no jerking, just pressure, release, which is what I strive for with all my training or handling. It was a breath of fresh air. I know that this feeling won't last long, just until I'm battered with twisted logic again, but I will bear it in mind and remain above the unfair treatment.

Preserve your memories. They're all that's left you.

It was 13 years ago to the day that my first pony, Ollie, was put to sleep after some horse kicked him in the field. Ollie, Oliver, Ol, Wol, whatever I was calling him that day, was a complete babe. I've written about him in some earlier posts, but basically, he went from being a mutt that wouldn't do a thing for anyone, to storming round cross country courses, winning me under 12 jumping classes and posting tidy first level dressage scores. He was 13.3hh, utterly mixed breed, no idea how old, probably from Ireland, a wonderful red bay with black points, two white back socks with ermine marks, cow hocked, had a high stepping trot like a little Hackney, could gallop faster than any of my friends' ponies, enjoyed - I think! - our hacks out on our own where I'd take him to a strip of grass along a quiet country lane and let him run, commentating a big race finish to myself in my head, or when I'd head up to the field that ran alongside the A66 in Darlington and from a rolling start, race the big lorries as they slowed down for the roundabout, or race to get away from the intercity trains that would hurtle past 'round the 'Plantation' as we called it, ones that hadn't stopped at Darlington station. We were maybe 15 metres from the track at the closest point. You'd hear the tracks start to vibrate, then sing, and then the roar, and oh MY if you weren't off that bit of the path in seconds, you'd get a bum's rush outta there! It seems most of my memories are of going FAST on my little bay guy. And I'm so glad I have them. I had a proper pony childhood, going out aged 7, 8, 9 with slightly older friends, going to the corner shop, trotting down to the river at Neasham, across roundabouts that were pretty busy!! Aged 10, 11, going out on my own, fantasising as we were practising jumping that we were winning junior European competitions! Ahhhhhh. Fortunately, I knew how lucky I was. I was naive, but I knew that much.

I still miss him, although it doesn't hurt. Sometimes I dream about him, and we're galloping or just spending time with each other. I don't dream about any other animal that's passed, so I think that's pretty special.

Pragmatism

As usual, I found this link from nosing round other blogs, but Mugwump's link to 'Pragmatic Horsemanship' has, I feel, given me a lot to read! This quote in particular, from Ben Moxon:

"If we are going to get rid of the negative anthropomorphism, we really need to get rid of the positive as well for our position to make sense.'

Unfortunately, some people I work with DO feel that a certain horse is 'out to get them' or fighting on purpose, and that they need to be dominated. I have a real problem with that mindset and more often than not end up playing devil's advocate and p'ing people off when I won't agree that the horse picked the fight and it's good that the human 'won'.


I am as guilty as anyone as thinking my horse might 'love' me. Well, not Frankie. He doesn't love anyone. But he accepts me and lets me do stuff with him. But other horses who may be snuggly or friendly. But I also know it's important to keep boundaries and be firm with horses that are too pushy or friendly. I just don't ever believe that a horse wants to cause you to smack them or shank them in the face, or anything else a human's temper can conjure up.

I've put in the video of me doing two time changes on Chelsea, the reining mare.

successful day!

pretty girl! acting sensible...

plotting her buckscapades

treats for flying changes?

Ear-eye view

Today dawned sunny and bright. Ice is still very much present all over the ground, but the sun is so warm, we got the barn heaters off, doors and windows open so the woolly girls could bask while they ate their mashes.

Amber's right hind was swollen yesterday from hock to pastern and today it was even worse so she came in for a cold hose and a poultice wrap. I'm supposed to be displaying her at the Salon du Cheval in Quebec City in mid-May, but if her shoulder is still stiff and she keeps injuring herself like this, it's not going to happen! It was still swollen when I replaced it for her second hosing, so she's spending the night in the makeshift corral in the indoor arena with Mae as company.

Friday is trail day for Tatoum and I, where weather allows. She was a pig with me yesterday. Once she gets wound up, that's it for calming back down. The big doors were open on the arena to let some sun in, and she freaked, sidepassing past the yellow tempo that's up at the back. She snorted and pulled and jigged her way round, eventually letting me take some control back and we practiced bits of CEF Level 1 test 2. However, she's finding leg yield left difficult and instead of working through it, when she's het up, she likes to either go sideways and not forward, or just stay on the spot, legs moving, ears in my mouth. She did one good 'rep' but then spooked when some snow fell off the roof and careered sideways into the wall, twice, so at that point I had had enough, made her buckle RIGHT down, and we did figure 8s with flying changes for a few minutes. She's fine going KXM, so right to left lead, but finds left to right hard. She got it maybe the 5th time when I made the angle for the changeover more accute. She was breathing very hard and sweating, bearing in mind it was 'hot' at 4c! As soon as she did it, I got off her, loosened the girth and led her around. She can  be very rewarding hard work sometimes! So today, we went exploring the new trails and had a good canter up a firm snowy slope.



So that was good. Then, my second ride was Mr. Plasticbags R Gonna Kills Me. Tyler and I have had the big blue tarp out all week for working everyone with it. Even Tatoum's been subjected to the fun! He was the only one who hasn't done it yet. So, I put my deep seated trail saddle on him, shortened my stirrups and went for it. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. He wouldn't even walk past it at first; he scraped us along the wall whilst keeping both of his eyes and ears on it in case it leapt up to attack him (complete opposite of Mama Grace, whose first act was to grab it in her teeth and shake it around!) I circled him closer around it and eventually approached it. He wanted to run back or sideways, but I said that wasn't acceptable, so we dithered for a long time. Lilly, who has been doing it every day, was freaked out by his reaction, but went over it right in front of his nose. This scared him, because it crinkled. He finally got a whisker of his toe on it, and it rustled, so he leapt backwards. Then we repeated this with half a hoof, the whole hoof, and then...he stepped on it!! From then, he was fine. Snorty, but fine. I was very proud. It was nowhere near as traumatic as the bags from the ground, so next step will be white feed sacks to walk over (he currently lives with three in his stall)

Finally, Tyler and I went for a lovely trail on Ella and Mae. We cleared some branches, crossed a stream, clambered up a snowbank to get around a fallen tree, gaited and cantered on packed snow and generally had a lovely time. Ella is very snorty, as this is her first winter doing trails, but she's pretty game. Mae was good, plenty bucky, but I'm determined to work on that!

ouchie

In good news, Mae is ok. She may have the genetic eye problem that some chocolate rocky mountain horses have, which is only a problem if she is bred to another chocolate carrier of the gene. As our stallion is black, there will not be a problem as she cannot pass this on with him. Or something like that. I'm not 100% on the genetic match-ups, but this I know to be good news.

In not so good news, said 11 year old stallion is completely terrified of plastic bags. Tyler was working with Stormy with them and as we were waiting to go out of the barn with them, she picked them up and they rustled and he freaked out. Backed up, snorted, rolled his eyes. So, I went off to work him, not realising just how scared he was. When I picked up a bag, holding it nowhere near him and crinkled it, he ran backwards. It was pretty dangerous just walking him round near them. Every time he heard the sound he tried desperately to get away. Now, I have no idea why he's so scared (Mae let me put them on her ears earlier...) but Tyler put Stormy in the temporary corral in there and came to help me. We tried him walking and touching them, we tried to get him to come and sniff it, none of it worked, he just wanted to get away, regardless of whether he was going backwards or sideways or both. Now, I must say, he wasn't mean with any of this. He didn't try to kick, knock us down (just yet...), get angry, or anything other than panic. I was worried for him, but didn't want to quit with him still being so scared. Eventually, while Tyler was holding him, I took the bag and placed it next to his shoulder. He flinched and trembled but didn't try to get away. We did this on the other shoulder too, with a few fights, and lots of praise when he stood still. I didn't use any force with him, mainly pressure/release and backing him more than he wanted when he backed away.

Our final decision was to attach them to his saddle and let him just go crazy. He was so unexpectedly terrified at this point that I really wanted him to feel the fear but not actually get whatever dreadful consequence he was expecting. So we put them on him and he stood, seemingly not minding so much them not actually touching him. The issue now was the crinkling as we tied them on. Then, as soon as he so much as took a step, the noise startled him and he went. Only I had hold of him at this point and he pulled and writhed at the end of the longe so much that I am ashamed to say he got away from me. He ran a few laps of the arena, longe trailing, flew over two of the little jumps we have up as barriers to the entrance, then came back to me, shaking and blowing. I felt really, really bad for him, but had no idea how to make him see anything but fear for the bags! We tried again, with both of us holding him on a longe line, and he attempted walking reeeeally slowly, but it made a noise again and off he went, this time pushing me out of the way. Tyler has a lot better centre of gravity than I do and she managed to hold him, and I managed some kind of Matrix-esque dodge to escape his flying hindquarters. Once he settled this time, we let him stand with the bags, and then I removed them, slowly, as he jumped each time they crackled. We stood and made a fuss of him for a while but he was pretty traumatised.

I don't know if we did the right thing but what pushed me to immerse him, as it were, was that he wouldn't even face them. He wouldn't even stretch his neck out, snorting, to nose at it, or have any scared curiousity as many horses would. he downright refused to acknowledge that it was anything other than death.

Anyway, we all got through it. I have a sore wrist and a stiff back from all my dodging, and he was obviously very stressed, but I got on him after this and let him have a stretch. We rode past and between two bags and he looked but didn't spook. He still refused to touch them.

Next step will be big blue tarp, with me on his back.

Poor horse. Either he was never plastic bagged, he's forgotted, or someone somehow abused him and he relates that noise to it. Or something else weirder!

new year worries

I haven't had anything worth posting for a while. Everything was going well once I got back from my break. Tatoum is back in gentle work, on course for our dressage training sessions (with my boss' dressage trainer who I don't get on with...) to make sure we're working on the right things for the Equine Canada tests. Grace is no longer being worked, but we are spending time each day touching her belly, brushing her, playing with her in readiness for her May baby.

Today though was bad news day. The vet came out to do a general check up on most of the horses. Mae has had a weepy eye for a while, but no other visible problems. We've been treating it with antibiotics and it has kept it ok, apart from in real cold weather. However, the vet believes it is Uveitis, probably brought on by Leptospirosis. My knowledge of the two illnesses did not extend to knowing there was a link between the two. But Lepto is apparently a very common cause of Uveitis and this can lead to such horrific things as blindness, liver and kidney failure, and it can be passed on to fetuses in pregnant mares, and Mae is really only here to be bred...so we just need to wait for the tests to see if this is the cause and then to find out what the extent of her eye problem is. She doesn't show any signs of blindness on trails or in the barn, so that's something, for now. She's not cranky, doesn't seem to be in pain, but I am very afraid that her future here is bleak if this diagnosis is made.

I've tried very hard not to have favourites since I've been here. I got on well with Maverik, and he went, and I got on with Bond, and now he's gone, and neither of those two going upset me. However, Mae is the kind of horse who will snuggle with me for fun and who comes to me first in the field and lets me ride her bareback with Gracie tagging along next to her and lets Tyler slide off over her butt and is generally a massive sweetie. As I've said before I've never had much experience with mares, and the majority of those here are pretty snarky and bitchy. Anyway, to utilise her sweetness, I took her on a trail yesterday as a nanny for Tyler who was riding Lilly, the baby, who was on her, I think 3rd ever trail. It's snowy everywhere here, and as the ground is becoming more frozen, we are able to go on more and more trails. We recently discovered a small stream that is not frozen, so we went up there to show Lilly it. Mae has done it a couple of times, but she insists on doing it in her own time, sliding down the bank, sticking her nose in the water, having a little sip, then walking over very calmly. Lilly had more of an issue but didn't panic at all. She stuck her nose in the deep snow holes the hooves had made, snorted in the water, and then went over it too.

To add to all this fun, a couple of days before, Mae and I, out trail marking on our own, had been chased by one of the neighbours dogs and their puppy also. She didn't panic, but she was worried as they kept following us so one was on either side of us at all times. When I turned to face them, they ran, but as soon as we moved off, they came back. So we skittered back to the barn, and they followed us, cheeky little gits, so I dismounted and chased them off the property.

Anyway, back to the present story, as we were practising the ditch, the dogs appeared, with their owner, who was leading her donkey, and then her son turned up behind us on his skidoo, and then the guy who works at our barn turned up on the 4 wheeler so it was a lot of fun for the horses, who were alert, but not spooked by any of this. I was very impressed by Lilly, who had a lot to contend with!