On Sunday, Sofia came riding with me! We took the girls for a little canter in the back field and they enjoyed themselves a lot. The sunset was absolutely beautiful.
Andrea also got to ride her for a little bit which was really nice to see :)
Rosie Days |
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The girls and I had so much fun this weekend! Blondie got two other riders on her and we all enjoyed ourselves quite a lot. On Saturday, my new friend Andrea came to ride Blondie on the trails with me. She's been having lessons on another horse at the barn for awhile, and I thought it would be nice for us to go riding together. That ride was a lot of fun although Rose was very prancy because of all the energy she had pent up from last week. On Sunday, Sofia came riding with me! We took the girls for a little canter in the back field and they enjoyed themselves a lot. The sunset was absolutely beautiful. On Monday, I had no school! So Andrea came out again and we had a fun little ride in the arena. I rode Rose bridleless for the second time ever! She was so responsive and happy. It was a really nice feeling. Andrea also got to ride her for a little bit which was really nice to see :) I also went out to lunge Rose in side reins on Tuesday and I got some gorgeous photos of the girls at sunset.
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Today we had another great lunging session. The sunset light was beautiful and instantly put me in a good mood as I drove to the barn after school.
When I went to get Rose from the field, she was happy to see me but obviously tired from her antics on yesterday's trail ride. Basically she wanted to gallop home as soon as we turned around, and the only way for me to keep her attention and not get bucked off was to ask her to leg yield. She walked/pranced sideways all the way home. I laugh because she doesn't buck to try to get me off her back, she just bucks because she can't contain her excitement sometimes. It's still something I have to correct because it's obviously not safe, but I still laugh while correcting it. I'm very fortunate in that I haven't experienced any major accident with horses, so I'm pretty much fearless when it comes to riding and handling them. This means that while Rose bucks and kicks around, I just calmly try to absorb the motion and refocus her attention to a different movement, all the while laughing and feeling proud of myself for staying on her back. I never get scared, like I'm sure a lot of riders would. Maybe that's a bad thing. Anyways, that's what she got up to yesterday. Because of her lack of energy, I decided to do a semi-short lunging session with the side reins again. She did really well! She's figured out what the side reins are pretty quickly and is starting to use them correctly to balance herself. She was very relaxed and slobbery at the end which is always a good sign. I think the side reins will really improve her relationship with the bit and using it as a tool instead of something to fight with/try to evade. Today Rose and I had a wonderful time! Mum and I went out early in the morning and the girls were eager to get going. I decided to try lunging Rose in side reins today - something she hasn't experienced before. I started by moving all the jumps and poles to the edges of the arena so Rose would be able to make a larger circle around me. I left three trot poles to send Rose through on the lunge. Then we brought the girls in from the field and tacked them up. Rose has started to prance around again when I'm putting the saddle on, probably because she hasn't had the saddle on much at all this winter. I'll have to work on getting her standing nice and still like she used to. Anyways, since I don't have a surcingle (but would love to get one!), I used Rose's saddle instead. I just put the end loops of the side reins around the girth on each side right under the saddle flap. It worked okay, but I found the reins would slide down the girth and therefore not work as well because the angle would change. So I tried threading the reins through the stirrup leather loops on either side to hold them up and that worked a lot better. Still, having a surcingle with secure metal rings set at different heights on Rose's sides would be the best. Anyways, the goal of today was continuing on my theme from yesterday: to get her actively accepting and getting comfortable with the bit again. I wanted her to seek the contact and stretch down into it. By the end of our lunging session, Rose's frame and attitude were beautiful. She was giving me this loose, bouncy, swingy trot. She was tracking up, her head and neck were stretched down into a beautiful frame, her back was lifted up to create a very nice, balanced outline. She had lots of foamy white slobber and had a little sweat going on, which means she was relaxed and working well. The best part though is how much the side reins teach her how to use her body in order to balance better. She's always had trouble with canter transitions, and normally she would just explode in a frenzy of head tossing and mini-bucks when I would ask her to canter on the lunge. Today, she had to actually think about how to transition from trot to canter while keeping her head in a nice frame instead of tossing it everywhere. It took her off guard the first few times and she would stop, turn to face me, and just look at me with slight confusion. When this would happen, I just calmly asked her to trot on again and asked for the canter transition again until she figure it out. She eventually gave me a very nice transition going both directions. Once she did a nice canter transition, I would only ask her to keep the canter going for maybe one circle around me, then ask her to go back down to trot and give her lots of praise. This way, she realizes that I'm rewarding the actual transition, instead of ignoring it and pushing her on to canter a couple of circles. Finding her balance enough to not break back into trot on the circle is the next thing we would work on. To get an idea of what Rose looked like today and what I'm aiming for in each session, here's a little video from Will Faber, a classical dressage teacher who has a youtube channel. I've watched a lot of his videos and have probably mentioned him on this blog before. Since this lunging session was so successful today, I think I'll incorporate more lunging with side reins into her training - maybe make it a weekly thing.
So happy to be writing again! The last week and a half, Rose and I have been doing a lot of groundwork. Over spring break while I was in Penticton, I went to a used bookstore and found a book called, "Discovering Natural Horsemanship" by Tom Moates. It's basically a memoir about his journey with natural horsemanship. He still considers himself a beginner so it's refreshing to read something that's not written by a professional - just another human trying to find a harmonious connection with their horse.
So reading this on my week away from the horses made me remember the ultimate relationship I'm always striving for with Rose, and gave me new motivation and inspiration to continue working on my relationship with Rose every day. Since I got back, I've done simple groundwork exercises with Rose everyday (think Parelli Seven Games), and I'm already seeing a difference. She's learned to back up when I wiggle my finger at her, which is very cute. She's also getting more responsive to pressure, whether through physical contact or just through meaningful looks. Still practicing trailer loading every day. She's got loading downpat, she just needs to accept the butt bar being done up behind her. It's taking a long time because I need another person to do up the butt bar while I stand at her head inside the trailer, and it's usually just me at the barn. Today, I didn't ride Rose. We first got in the trailer a few times, then went out to the arena and had a lunging session. She was a bit lazy at first, but once she warmed up, she started to be more energetic. It was very cool to watch the progression of how she carried herself as her body warmed up. At first, she was very stiff, not tracking up, her head was high, neck tense, and she was going pretty slowly. But after about ten minutes of trotting and walking, she limbered right up. Now her body was longer, stretched out, back rounded, tail held up, neck long and nose almost touching the ground, hind legs reaching forward and tracking up, and face relaxed. She just looked a lot more comfortable. That was when I knew it was time to practice some canter. So she's getting so good at vocal commands. She responds right away when I say the command for canter or trot, under saddle or on the lunge. The key is to keep it consistent, and use the same tone every time. At the end of our lunging session, I decided to ask her to jump a cross pole on the lunge a few times. She had so much fun with that! She would just have the cutest, most determined look on her face as she faced the jump, then afterwards I'd praise her and ask her to stop and she'd look at me and spin around to face me, then put her head down and start to lick and chew. Licking and chewing means she's relaxing and thinking and learning. It was the cutest thing, watching her go for the jump. Anyways. I just love being able to do these fun things with Rose because I've established and keep teaching a communication system that both of us understand. Love you Rosie! Ok, so the title sounds really dramatic but I'm just being over the top like always haha. Actually, today was my last ride for a week, not forever. But it feels like the same thing so yeah. Anyways, today I rode both the girls. I brought Rose in first and started by lunging her, then had a nice bareback (and bitless as usual) ride afterwards. She was a bit frisky on the lunge line but quieted down once we started riding. Bareback is the best <3 I then took Blondie out on a short but just as enjoyable trail ride on the hills. We climbed up the first one and looked down on all the horses in their various fields. They were very alarmed since they're not used to seeing horses on top of those hills, so Blondie and I got to see a herd of galloping horses from the best view point. They all looked like little dots on the ground. I could even see Rose in her field standing right up against the fence line, watching us the whole time. I was also able to set up my phone to video Rose and me, so here's my fun video summing up the day's events: Watching this video makes me just want to go back to the barn and see Rose again, every day.
The past week my family and I have been on vacation in Penticton! This means Rose got a very well-deserved week off. The break came at a good time for both of us. I think we were very burned out from our big two weeks on the island with that three day eventing clinic having two lessons a day. I could tell because when Rose got back home, she wasn't her normal self. She was still very compliant, but that little spark of personality that she usually has just wasn't there. It was like I was working with a robot. Before we left for Penticton, I was kind of worried about Rose. I hoped all she needed was a break. When I realized this, I also thought about how I could use a break from the horses. I needed time to think and assess the things Rose and I do together. During my week away, I re-assessed my riding and views on working with horses. I thought about the attitudes and objectives needed to build a happy, calm, easy relationship with a horse and realized that recently I had been deviating from those original views I had in mind when I first found Rose. I had gotten caught up in the competitive aspect of horses and hadn't really taken the time to make sure Rose was happy as well. Yes, she definitely enjoyed all the cross country we did (she was made for it and anyone can tell when she's out there jumping), but I think she was missing just spending time together. She didn't know why I wasn't listening to her like I usually do. So while I was away, I thought about all these things. And this is what I remembered: ~ Horses are extremely willing if they understand you. ~ Horses sense emotions very well. Meaning if you're anxious, they will be too. So nothing can be accomplished unless you are calm, happy, and in no rush to achieve anything. ~ Riding is a bonus, not a given. ~ Horses are sensitive to the lightest touch. So if you feel the need to kick, yell, jerk, slap, etc., you have to re-instill that light, soft communication that horses understand by finding a way for the horse to enjoy work. ~ Endless patience. Endless. ~ Constantly evaluate everything you do with a horse. Is there something that can be changed? Does this make more sense than that? Let's try this way of doing things. Read articles. Watch videos. Listen. Learn. Try it out. ~ Horses can teach you way more than you could ever teach a horse. Listen to them. ~ Reward for the tiniest effort. Again, endless patience. ~ SMILE So tonight I went out to see Rose, reminding myself of all this knowledge, and hoping she'd be back to her old self when I got there. I'm happy to say we both were. We had a really fun lunging session in the sunset. I was experimenting with using clicker training to teach Rose to stretch her neck down to the ground while walking, and then while trotting on the lunge line. She picked it up within the first five minutes of trying this new thing out. I could tell she was having so much fun and by the end she was holding her head and neck down all the time at the walk, and for four or five strides intermittently at the trot. It's amazing what she can figure out when the signals are clear and everybody's calm. Rose did have some extra beans though. The first time I asked her to canter on the lunge, she suddenly realized that she hadn't been exercised in a week and had all this pent up energy, so she took off on a little bucking spree. I just laughed and waited for her to calm down again so we could continue our work (or maybe I should call it play?). SMILE! Never forget how amazing it is just to be in the presence of a horse. Today I rode both Blondie and Rose bareback.
First I took Rose out from her (still very muddy) field and brought her to the arena. I again started with the stick and string and did all the exercises we had been learning. I took it a bit further today though - I switched the lead rope out for the longer lunge line and tried lunging Rose over some bigger jumps. Now that she gets that game, she knows I want her to jump over whatever obstacle happens to be in front of her. So I started with a cross pole and asked her to jump it from the trot a few times, then canter, both directions. After she had done that calmly, I raised the jump to a small vertical. Now she got more excited and started to do a little buck before the jump, in anticipation of what she was about to do. It's so funny seeing how proud she is of herself. It's also interesting because when I was first introducing Rose to the concept of being lunged over jumps, she really didn't like it and would try to go around the jumps whenever she could. But once she realized it was a fun game, she started to love it and look forward to the times I would send her to a jump. I think it makes her feel very free. Today, she was just soaring into the air for the joy of it. Once she even tried to jump the jump when I wasn't asking her to! She was getting a bit too frisky after the jump, so I just leaned to the side and look at her hindquarters - my signal for her to stop and turn in to face me. It worked very well and she came right back to me when I asked. I then put her bridle on a had a little bareback ride. I don't ride her without a saddle very much because her back is very bony and not that comfortable. We did some turning on the forehand and haunches, leg yields, and shoulder-in. We tried a bit of trot work but Rose isn't completely comfortable yet with how much I have to squeeze my legs in order to hold myself on her back when she's bouncing around at the trot. She gets very tense and brings her neck up quite high. It's almost like she doesn't really know what's happening on her back. Bareback vs. saddle must feel very different for her. I also had a nice, short bareback ride on Blondie. I have to say, she's a lot more comfortable than Rose! The last two days (Saturday and Sunday) have been rides in the arena. On Saturday I lunged Rose while my mum was having a riding lesson on Blondie.
She's getting much more consistent about lunging, and I'm starting to see an improvement in how Rose carries herself. She's learning how to move in order to stay balanced while on the circle, and she doesn't rush anymore. She's also a lot more attentive to my voice and movements as well. So I lunged Rose for about ten minutes each direction - walk, trot, and canter. She was pretty calm and I got some very smooth canter transitions from her. I then hopped on to ride for a bit. We just practiced going on a loose rein at all gaits, then after she was calm I started to ask for a bit more collection. I gathered the reins up until I had a soft contact with her mouth and started to sit into the saddle while was cantering. I haven't done much sitting at the canter, usually I just hover over her back in a half-seat and let her move out underneath me. But I decided to try out slowing and collecting her stride a bit more. We accomplished a few balanced circles with me sitting deep into the saddle - a new feeling for Rose. I got her to collect by doing many gentle half-halts and using my voice. On Sunday we had another pretty similar ride, except we went over some jumps as well! Every time we jump, I'm so elated because I can feel how much fun Rose is having. I can't wait until we're jumping more courses and especially when we go out on the cross country course - as soon as the weather brightens up, we'll be out there! Referring to the title of this post, Rose also got a new hair cut yesterday! I figured since I'll have to cut it short and thin it for the summer so that I can braid her mane, I might as well start now. Rose's mane is so incredibly thick, it'll take me awhile to thin it out. I like to pull a few locks every day instead of all at once so that the horse never feels too much pain or gets impatient from standing for a long time. So right now, Rose's mane is short and thick - not at all easy to braid. But I plan to pull just a few locks at a time so that it is much thinner by the time I have to actually braid it for an event. It's supposed to rain all week which means not much riding for the horses. I might take the opportunity to write up a few theory/educational/insight posts that I've been thinking out lately. Because there is always oh so much to learn, debate, and discover in the horse world. Here are some photos of Rose's mane, before and after. Sorry for the horrible quality! It was a gorgeous day today. The sun was literally blinding. Having weather like this put me in a great mood, and I think that's part of the reason why I had such an amazing ride with Rose today. Really, it seems our rides get better and more fun each time! I groomed Rose, tacked her up and I even braided her mane for no reason except that I was so happy on this beautiful day. I'm using the standing martingale and the rubber bit now until further notice, no more experimenting with tack. I think I've found the equipment that works for both of us. So I clipped the lunge line onto her bridle and headed out to the arena. Since the sun was shining so bright, it was quite warm. I shed my jacket before I even started riding! We started out with lunging, practicing walk, trot, and canter both ways on an even circle. Rose was pretty good so I decided to introduce something new today: lunging over small jumps. Rose constantly needs something new to do so that she doesn't get bored and is tempted to do something "naughty". So I set up a pole raised a little less than a foot off the ground by balancing it on some plastic jump cube/box things. It was just high enough that Rose could choose if she wanted to treat it as a trot pole or treat it as a jump. I think she had some fun figuring out this new game, and would get quite excited after she successfully "jumped" the pole. After she cantered over it a few times with a nice, not out-of-control energy, I decided it was time to hop on and do the same thing under saddle. After I got on, we pretty much immediately started working in the trot, as Rose was already warmed up. We trotted circles, figure-8's, diagonals across the arena, and practiced walk-trot transitions. Then it was time to go over the raised pole. We trotted it a few times and Rose picked up the canter after each time. After she got that down, we cantered the pole a few times. She was getting pretty excited at this point, and her Thoroughbred side was showing. My mum was watching so she was able to help with moving/setting the jumps. I asked her to raise the pole we'd been going over so it was now a small jump, and then put a pole on the ground on either side of the jump so that Rose would have to think where her feet are before and after the jump - this would stop her from rushing. The first few times were pretty spastic, and I kept telling Rose that the only way she could avoid tripping on the poles as she tried to go over them would be to slow down and collect her stride a bit more. By the end we got a few good times both ways where Rose was slow enough that she didn't trip and the distances between the poles worked out nicely. And of course I took my camera along: Overall, a very fine ride on a very fine day
Wow I've been proud of Rose these last few days. Today she went out on a mini trail ride all by herself!
But I'll talk about what we did before. So I asked around and was able to borrow a standing martingale, and found a rubber snaffle in my tack box. These were the two things I was recommended to try by Pippa last night in our lesson. Using the standing martingale also means that I'm switching Rose's noseband back to a regular caveson one, not a the figure-8 noseband she had on before. This is because the standing martingale isn't designed to be used with a figure-8 noseband, as the straps underneath the horse's chin are not in the right place. So I tacked up Rose with all the new equipment and took her out to the arena. She was being very friendly and seemed happy today. Maybe she had just as much fun in our lesson the night before as I did. I decided to start by lunging her with the new equipment, as I wanted her to find out on her own what the standing martingale did without worrying about me on her back. She was VERY well behaved today on the lunge line and really in tune to my voice. I also noticed her circle was very even around me - not like the oval shape she usually makes. It might have made a difference that I had the lunge line attached to her bit, and not her halter, so she didn't have anything to lean on. I lunged her both ways, all three gaits, for around twenty minutes. She had cantered calmly on the lunge line so I decided to get on and try asking for a few canter transitions under saddle, since she was being to relaxed today. I only rode for ten minutes, but I got some nice transitions both directions, which was my goal for the ride. Basically reinforcing what we had started to learn last night in our lesson. She's already picked up on it and the standing martingale helped to teach her about the head tossing. The ten minute ride combined with the previous lunging session made her a bit sweaty. It was a nice, working sweat, not a nervous sweat like she used to get. I also really liked this new bit, as it felt softer in my hands and I feel like it was easier for me to take up a contact with her mouth because I knew that it wasn't hurting her. I think Rose liked it a lot as well, as she was nice and slobbery at the end, which means she was relaxed and seeking contact with my hands through the bit. So I'll stick with the new equipment for now. Now this is the best part. As I was walking Rose out, I though that instead of going around and around the arena to cool her off, I might try taking her around the orchard once. So we meandered out of the arena and Rose hardly put up a fuss when I asked her to go out on the trails and leave the barn. We had a nice little walk around the perimeter of the orchard and she was alert but calm. A great session and ride today with my favourite girl. Here are some photos of Rose on her big adventure: Yesterday I felt Rose was telling me she didn't want to be ridden the next day, so today instead I decided to practice lunging some more.
She was pretty good, but she likes to lean on the lunge line on the side of the circle that is closer to the barn, so I would have to do short little jerks on the lunge line to get her to support herself better around that side rather than leaning on me. The line was only attached to her halter (not a bit) so small jerks on the line wouldn't hurt her at all. I also pushed her for a few more circles at canter before breaking into a trot, and she put up a bit of a fuss - again leaning on my hand when she was nearing the barn side of the circle. It also started raining at the end of our session and it's supposed to keep raining all week. So we have a lot of groundwork/muddy rides to look forward to this week. I was looking through some old pictures and I found some of Rose the first day we saw her. She's lost some of that tubby belly now and she looks a little less nervous about riding. The first picture is of Rose learning to side pass/leg yield along the side of the arena. This was Rose's first day doing any lateral movements under saddle. I took Rose out to have a lunging session today. She was very good and in tune to my voice. She is still trying to find her balance at the canter, so I would only ask for one full circle of canter or even just the transition to canter and then only a few strides. I asked her to do a lot of transitions today, because I think they make lunging worthwhile as they constantly check the horse's balance and lightness to voice aids as well. Rose didn't test me at all today! I think she's decided I'm a good, safe, strong leader to follow now. After lunging for around 20 minutes, I started to introduce the concept of in hand work to Rose. Later, I will have a bridle on her and will be standing beside her holding the reins at her withers - the same place my hands would be if I was on her back. But right now I was holding no reins, just resting my hand on her withers, with the lead rope in my other hand. My goal was to show her that I wanted her to walk out in front of me - not follow me like when we are leading. I walked beside her, my body in line with her withers. She felt a bit insecure about this at first, as she would rather follow me, but eventually she got the concept and walked/trotted on my voice command with me running beside her. I even got a few lateral steps out of her! My main goal was to keep the energy in this work, so that Rose is constantly anticipating the next movement, and will move as fast/slow/collected/extended as I ask without any holding back. Bouncy steps, not lazy ones. Same with in the lunging work, I would say "up" or make a quiet cluck with my tongue to put more energy into her steps, so that she would reach fully under herself with her hind legs. Here's a video of clips from our lunge work today. She had already done about ten minutes on the left rein, and these are clips on the right rein. Notice how she stretches her neck down for a few strides at a time at points in the video. She is distracted at first but as she focuses, her trot goes from rushing and uneven to rhythmic and swinging. Notice at the end when I ask her to come in to face me, she decides to walk forward and ends up stepping on the lunge line. I'm happy she didn't think anything of it, just waited for me to lift her foot up off the rope. Some horses get scared when they realize their head is tied to the ground.
Today it was pouring. Rose looked like a drowned rat, so I took her inside to the warm barn and tried to dry her off. I groomed her a bit and when there was a little break in the rain, I took Rose outside and practiced with the mounting block again. She's learned to stand snuggled right up against the block, and today she only swung her bum out once. I then lunged her just for five minutes to confirm that she wasn't going to test me like she did yesterday. That went pretty well, although she did test me a bit on the right rein. She would rush on the side of the circle furthest from the barn, and stop and face me on the side of the circle nearest to the barn. When I got her to trot past the near side half of the circle without stopping, I finished up there. She listened to my voice a lot today too. I would say, "ea-sy" in a relaxed tone and she would slow her trot if it was rushing too much. Well, today I saw a little different side of Rose. I think she's becoming more comfortable in her own skin and more comfortable in her new home. Today we had a good, if not challenging, session.
I started with introducing Rose to the mounting block. I walked her up to it, and stood in front of her head facing her. She learned to stand quietly snuggled right up close the to block pretty quickly. Next step was teaching her to stand just like she was previously, except with me standing on the block. I would lead her up to it and while she was still walking, I would walk up the steps of the block. She would try to stop when her head was still in line with me, and when I would ask her to go forward, she'd swing her bum around so she was facing me again. This position is her safe spot, so it's understandable she would go there. After she did this, I would gently tap her hindquarters on the opposite side of me and get her to to swing her hind end back around to the original position. It took about ten tries before she would walk up to the block with me and stay parallel to the block, not swing her bum out again. After she got that, I started to reach over her side and pat her, then later putting some of my weight over her back, then taking it off again. She stood quietly for that. I did actually mount her three times off the block (bareback, as her back is still sore a bit), but she seemed to be not quite ready for that, and would dash off after I got on instead of staying put beside the block like I wanted her to. The first time I got on, I wasn't expecting her to dash off so I slid off her back - I guess that counts as my first fall off her. It's also the first time she's ever had a rider fall off, so it seemed a lot more jarring to her than it would have been to most horses. I guess I should've realized that having someone fall off her back was a bigger deal to Rose. It's hard to judge when to finish a session with Rose, because she learns so fast that I keep thinking, "well, that seemed easy for her, let's try for the next step!" even though I might need to step back and read her signals incase she's telling me that what I'm trying with her is too much out of her comfort zone. I decided to stop after seeing she was uncomfortable with actually being mounted from the block. But we did accomplish something, as she learned today to stand quietly at the mounting block, and that she doesn't have to have her head glued to me all the time. As I'm getting to know Rose, I'm realizing that she is a horse who really likes a leader. She's brave, but she's not independent. So since coming here, Rose has latched on to me as her leader, and today, I think she questioned if I was a good leader to follow after I asked something of her that she wasn't ready for. It was very subtle, but this made her question my leadership without me realizing until later, when I started lunging her. Now, I know Rose knows how to lunge. She did it two days ago perfectly well. So when I asked her to go out on the circle just like normal and she instead started backing up and dancing around so she could stare at me with both her eyes, I didn't really know what she was thinking. She'd never done this before, so it took me almost ten minutes of what I thought was mixed communication to realize that she was testing me. Seeing if I was still a good lead mare to follow. I lunged her for half an hour, with many starts and stops, until she finally trotted two full circles around me without stopping or turning or rushing. She even stretched her head down for a few strides at a time. Anyways, this experience was a realization for me. Rose's personality is very easy. Easy to teach, easy to love, easy to work with, but also easy to take advantage of. Today, she told me to smarten up and that she's still deciding if we're going to be partners. One last note: Rose came up to me in the field today when I went out to catch her. The first two or three weeks, she would walk away or just ignore me. That little action shows me we're starting to build a bond, however small it is. It made me so happy. Winter means darkness before 4:30 in the afternoon. Today I decided that instead of working with Rose first before the sun set, I would wait and take her out after dark to see what she would do.
I gave the daylight time after school to Blondie instead and we enjoyed a wonderful bareback ride together. I even took off my shoes while riding even though my toes almost froze off! But when I'm riding bareback, I usually take off my shoes as well, to be able to feel the horse the most I can. Blondie was having a lot of fun and I was able to help her lift her front end up and in turn connect with the bridle in a way she hasn't ever done before. She also became very light to my aids by the end, like my leg was just a fly on her skin. I then took Rose out in the dark as planned and clipped the lunge line on to her halter. We proceeded to have a very good lunge lesson that consisted of lots of transitions. She would offer the stretch in her neck, with her nose almost touching the ground, for one or two strides at a time. Mostly at trot, but she did do it once at the canter too. I would praise her with my voice when she did it (she's so sensitive to voice commands and I used that to my advantage) and she held the stretch for almost ten trot strides by the end of the session. I'm so excited because I know I'm helping her develop her topline the right way, as today she stretched just because it felt good, not because there was anything tying her head down. I was also surprised at how calm she was in the dark, it was almost better for her. Afterwards I felt around the area of her back that was sore two days ago, and she hardly flinched. So her back is hopefully almost healed and we're organizing the saddle fitting visit on the weekend. I'm so excited to finally be able to ride Rose in that saddle knowing it was fitted just for her! Here are some pics of her being free lunged before I bought her: Today I lunged Rose in side reins for the first time. I read up a lot about the use of side reins and found many different opinions on it. But I trusted Will Faeber after reading this article that he wrote on the subject from a classical dressage point of view. They also used/still use side reins in this same way at the Spanish Riding School - according to what Alois Podhajsky wrote in his book, "The Complete Training of Horse and Rider In The Principles of Classical Horsemanship" that I've been reading.
So I went out today and tried using them very loosely adjusted on Rose. She seemed to get the concept of stretching into the contact, and by the end she was able to stretch her neck all the way down for several strides at the trot. I should have ended the lesson there, but for some reason I felt rushed that I had to ride in this new saddle a few more times while we have it on trial for a week. So I got on her and everything was great at the walk, as it usually is. But then we started trotting. Did I mention it was an EXTREMELY windy day with the first cold snap of winter today and I probably shouldn't have been riding in the first place. The wind was very distracting and Rose offered a rushing, unconnected, crooked trot around the arena, throwing her head everywhere. She likes to stick her hindquarters to the right all the time, especially in the last quadrant of a circle. I don't know how to correct it, and am looking forward to our lesson with Robin Saba on Sunday so I can ask her about it. Anyways, I decided to get my mum to set up some trot poles so at least Rose would focus on her feet a bit more. I was kind of stressed out at this point, and as I said before, should probably have gotten off and worked on something on the ground instead of riding. Rose jumped over the poles the first time, then put two steps of trot in between each pole the second few times, and then finally showed that cadence in her trot over the poles the last few times. I decided to end it there. On a more positive note, the saddle fits great! I don't really feel I need the week's trial, but better safe than sorry. After this we loaded Rose in the trailer a few more times to solidify the concept before she actually has to be trailered somewhere on Sunday. I was so happy when she followed me right in on the first try. The only thing I'm finding is that Rose is very happy to walk into the trailer, but she gets quite nervous standing inside facing away from the door. If I turn her around so she can look out, then she's fine again. We'll have to work on that. Here's some pictures of the girls from today. They're in their big winter blankets - winter's coming! So unfortunately I only had this brilliant idea to make a sort of "training diary" three weeks after Rose actually arrived. Which means I'll have to recap all that's happened during that time. The first week was kind of a "get to know each other" week. I learned what Rose did and didn't already know, and basically let her settle in her new surroundings. I rode her twice, lunged her a few times, and did some groundwork. On the fourth day, Rose showed me she's destined to be a jumper by clearing the 4 foot gate of her paddock to join the rest of the mares being turned out that morning. Great first impression, Rose. Now the rest of the barn thinks you and I are both crazy. The next week held her very first trail ride. We took her out around the fields for only about 20 minutes, just to get her used to the concept. We went with my mum and her twenty year old mare, Blondie (a schoolmaster in all aspects of Being A Riding Horse). Rose blew my mind with her bravery, as she promptly decided to be the leader at the start of the ride and didn't spook or have any problems whatsoever the whole time. It was like she didn't even know Blondie was there. In short, I was very proud of her. After that and into the third week was work in the arena. She cantered for the first time, and even did a few little jumps and trot poles. She learned to move off the pressure of the leg, and started turn on the forehand and a bit a leg-yeilding down the long sides of the arena. She also learned the concept of contact with the bit. We also took her on two more trail rides, in which she conquered the big scary bridge with no problems. This one's definitely a cross country horse. So that pretty much summarizes the first three weeks. Now I'll be posting hopefully every day/after every session with Rose. I'm excited to see the progression. A few photos from Rose's third trail ride:
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