Where did September go?!
September goals:
- Continue to add canter as comfort allows, making sure it's a polite canter and not a running-away canter. Mission accomplished!*
- Rasp hooves weekly to make sure boots fit for our early October ride. Kinda weekly? They are getting rasped, though.
- Acquire clippers. Clip 'Fetti's neck shortly prior to October ride. Clippers acquired and charged. I'll wash her neck this weekend and clip that same day, no sense ruining new clippers on a dirty horse.
- School 'standing still while mounting' more. Still working on that. It's been better, but not fixed.
Total mileage: 102.1. We're still comfortably averaging about 25 miles/week and that feels good for now. This month was a lot of shorter rides (6 rides under 3 miles) with two days of 15+ miles.
I've been pretty awful about progress-blogging lately, despite the fact that things keep happening. Good news: the non-horse stress is starting to die down some to a manageable level. That should leave me more able to put (more of) my head here.
*I mentioned earlier in the month about my cantering woes. I knew I wasn't feeling quite right in the Eurolight. Pinpointing exactly what was wrong proved difficult. It wasn't a matter of the saddle tipping forwards/backwards substantially, and trialing with a thinner pad was going to create more headache than I was willing to deal with. Shortening my stirrups a hole left my knees miserable within half a mile. Taking the caged stirrups off helped some, but didn't fix it. Finally, one day I had an epiphany: when I dropped my stirrups to walk around the barn, my feet were behind the stirrups. Hmm.. so I shifted the stirrups back an inch or two, and poof! Magic fix. Magic fix also left me incredibly muscle sore everywhere from suddenly riding correctly.
I do plan to re-try the caged stirrups after Quicksilver to see if they're workable with the new stirrup position, but I'm holding off on that for the moment.
We're getting a real, balanced canter these days. I no longer feel like she's running through me and balanced on her forehand. I probably never mentioned it on the blog, but we tried to school the canter on and off during our first year. It never felt fluid to me, I blamed myself, and I pretty much quit cantering after that. It's only in the past six months that I've gotten what I call a 'hunter' canter - balanced, fluid, light, not running - and that's been both bareback and under saddle. Sometime this past month, I mentioned that to one of my riding partners; she commented that her daughter (Fetti's previous rider) always felt strongly on the forehand and wondered if it was a pain issue. In hindsight, I doubt it was pain. I think Miss Fetti wasn't worked consistently and correctly enough to build the muscles for a solid canter. Taking the better part of two years off from cantering and focusing on balanced, correct carriage at the trot? Probably the best thing I ever did for her canter.
She still objects to cantering when I'm sitting wrong or putting her on her forehand. That's okay and clearly my problem rather than hers!
Other, un-noted accomplishments:
- Confetti has started to pee at the tie-rail after the ride, and a few times even on the trail. Cookies were had! She absolutely expects her cookie reward, but right now, I am totally okay with that.
- Met two unicycles on the trail. Totally unbothered.
- Stood very politely while a LOT of motorcycles roared by on the road not 30 feet away, even as we were unable to see any of said motorcycles and she wasn't particularly thrilled.
- Multiple bareback trail rides, one of which included a semi-racing Big Canter up a steep hill - and I found it fun and exhilarating rather than terrifying.
October goals:
- Quicksilver LD
- start working in the arena again periodically
- continue schooling 'stand while mounted'
- start schooling cleaner transitions on cue, not just on-anticipation
Showing posts with label canter work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canter work. Show all posts
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Thursday, September 11, 2014
August recap, September goals, various updates
August goals were:
- 15+ mile rides once or twice during the month - Fail. But: two back-to-back 10mile days, which for our purposes is pretty close to one 15+ mile ride. Oh wait - actually, success! We rode with Quicksilver for 4-5 miles, then 5ish miles there and home as well, so that's close to 15. That just didn't get completely logged.
- Get rid of hives - Check. Thankfully, she's shedding, and as her new coat comes in we're losing the visible spots.
- Continue speed work approx. once weekly - Check! Five rides at 5mph or over.
- Continue heat work (as much for me as for her) - Check? I think we did, anyway, but the past two months are all blurring together. If I elyte, I do better. I'm learning.
- Rebuild trail confidence; eliminate backing up as an evasion again. - This appears to be resolved, but I'm not convinced it won't flare back up again before resolving for a while.
Total mileage: approx 90. A bit lower than usual, but well within normal.
Bonus for a lesson in August, with a tiny bit of jumping!
September goals:
- Continue to add canter as comfort allows, making sure it's a polite canter and not a running-away canter.
- Rasp hooves weekly to make sure boots fit for our early October ride.
- Acquire clippers. Clip 'Fetti's neck shortly prior to October ride.
- School 'standing still while mounting' more. One step is vaguely tolerable at this point. More than that, absolutely not.
On saddles:
My Eurolight spent two weeks away getting fixed.
I was riding in the Thorowgood with some bareback work for good measure. Sweat patterns are still good. I am so, so lucky to have a second saddle that works for the silly horse and I. I'm not as secure, and having regular English stirrups and irons definitely impacts my leg comfort, but we did a moderately brisk 18-mile ride last week with no real problems.
On hydration:
Human: I bought a new Nathan Intensity pack and I love it. It's 2L rather than my previous 3L pack, but it barely bounces at all, even when cantering. I did not love the bite valve that came with, so I 'borrowed' the Camelbak's bite valve and tube from my boyfriend's Camelbak (oops, bad girlfriend!) for the time being, aka until I make it to REI for a new one for me. Then again, maybe I should give him the new one...
It also has a nifty little pocket in front I can store elyte tabs in, increasing the likelihood I'll remember to take them regularly.
Horse: On a whim, I bought a Himalayan salt block to hang in her stall maybe two months ago? Confetti has now gone through the entire thing. She's drinking substantially more - this was the mare that used to go through maaaaybe a third of the 'standard' water bucket, and now goes through half of a double-sized one in a day. No complaints here; I'm happy she's drinking.
Thorowgood:
Hex key acquired and worked nicely! We're now in the MW gullet, I believe, and I'm feeling more balanced that way. I don't have a wool pad to go underneath and frankly would be concerned about messing with the fit by adding mine, so standard English pads it is. That does mean that using the heart monitor is not a good option: the electrodes have trouble sticking to the English pads.
Despite it being a dressage saddle, I had another gal at the barn help me out and stick the knee blocks in a more AP-type position, supporting my calves rather than my thighs. I can't necessarily recommend it to anyone, but it is working much better for me now.
Tiny horse problems: my 22" Woolback girth reaches nearly to the bottom of the saddle on both sides. Yikes!
Eurolight repairs and discoveries:
I had new billets put on my saddle along with replacing the crupper ring. Either the old billets stretched, or the new ones are shorter. They're easily four inches shorter. This puts my 22" Woolback girth on holes 2 & 3. I sense a new girth in our future.
Also, I snugged up the breastcollar some when I put the saddle on. I'm not sure how it looked good before, but it seems to look fine now.
My trainer had mentioned that the Eurolight doesn't allow you to really get your knees against the horse. I hadn't understood that then. I do now. I suspect I could resolve that somewhat by using a thinner pad, and may experiment with putting the dressage pads back on to see if the sweat patterns are still good (or not).
Cantering:
Our canter work feels vastly improved. There are still times I'm up in a bastard two-point position. However, there are now a near-equal amount of times when I'm just calmly sitting and staying with her motion. I'm not entirely sure what's changed. The real test will be trying it in the Eurolight to see if I can keep that feeling.
Verdict: no, not really. My lower leg stability is not there in the Eurolight (probably related to my knees flaring out, see previous point!), and it is in the dressage saddle with knee blocks. I can hold the canter for a few strides and have it feel correct, but not the lengths we were getting in the Thorowgood. At this point, I think I will probably continue to work on those handful of strides, but make a point to pull out the Thorowgood weekly-or-so for canter sets.
Two-point and running martingales, or, I am very used to these Haflingers:
I've pondered for a while how folks would actually end up with horses hitting them in the head. I mean, I have to be falling forwards to hit her neck! It finally clicked: it seems like normal horses have a higher headset, Arabs/Saddlebred types in particular. Fetti and the other Haffies default to a flatter headset. Alternatively, I'm just not seeing the high-headed Haffie photos and low-headed other horse photos?
In any case, two-point is awfully hard in non-jumping length stirrups and with the mane three inches lower than I want to grab.
- 15+ mile rides once or twice during the month - Fail. But: two back-to-back 10mile days, which for our purposes is pretty close to one 15+ mile ride. Oh wait - actually, success! We rode with Quicksilver for 4-5 miles, then 5ish miles there and home as well, so that's close to 15. That just didn't get completely logged.
- Get rid of hives - Check. Thankfully, she's shedding, and as her new coat comes in we're losing the visible spots.
- Continue speed work approx. once weekly - Check! Five rides at 5mph or over.
- Continue heat work (as much for me as for her) - Check? I think we did, anyway, but the past two months are all blurring together. If I elyte, I do better. I'm learning.
- Rebuild trail confidence; eliminate backing up as an evasion again. - This appears to be resolved, but I'm not convinced it won't flare back up again before resolving for a while.
Total mileage: approx 90. A bit lower than usual, but well within normal.
Bonus for a lesson in August, with a tiny bit of jumping!
September goals:
- Continue to add canter as comfort allows, making sure it's a polite canter and not a running-away canter.
- Rasp hooves weekly to make sure boots fit for our early October ride.
- Acquire clippers. Clip 'Fetti's neck shortly prior to October ride.
- School 'standing still while mounting' more. One step is vaguely tolerable at this point. More than that, absolutely not.
On saddles:
My Eurolight spent two weeks away getting fixed.
I was riding in the Thorowgood with some bareback work for good measure. Sweat patterns are still good. I am so, so lucky to have a second saddle that works for the silly horse and I. I'm not as secure, and having regular English stirrups and irons definitely impacts my leg comfort, but we did a moderately brisk 18-mile ride last week with no real problems. On hydration:
Human: I bought a new Nathan Intensity pack and I love it. It's 2L rather than my previous 3L pack, but it barely bounces at all, even when cantering. I did not love the bite valve that came with, so I 'borrowed' the Camelbak's bite valve and tube from my boyfriend's Camelbak (oops, bad girlfriend!) for the time being, aka until I make it to REI for a new one for me. Then again, maybe I should give him the new one...
It also has a nifty little pocket in front I can store elyte tabs in, increasing the likelihood I'll remember to take them regularly.
Horse: On a whim, I bought a Himalayan salt block to hang in her stall maybe two months ago? Confetti has now gone through the entire thing. She's drinking substantially more - this was the mare that used to go through maaaaybe a third of the 'standard' water bucket, and now goes through half of a double-sized one in a day. No complaints here; I'm happy she's drinking.
Thorowgood:
Hex key acquired and worked nicely! We're now in the MW gullet, I believe, and I'm feeling more balanced that way. I don't have a wool pad to go underneath and frankly would be concerned about messing with the fit by adding mine, so standard English pads it is. That does mean that using the heart monitor is not a good option: the electrodes have trouble sticking to the English pads.
Despite it being a dressage saddle, I had another gal at the barn help me out and stick the knee blocks in a more AP-type position, supporting my calves rather than my thighs. I can't necessarily recommend it to anyone, but it is working much better for me now.
Tiny horse problems: my 22" Woolback girth reaches nearly to the bottom of the saddle on both sides. Yikes!
 |
| If you embiggen, knee block placement is almost visible, sort of. |
Eurolight repairs and discoveries:
I had new billets put on my saddle along with replacing the crupper ring. Either the old billets stretched, or the new ones are shorter. They're easily four inches shorter. This puts my 22" Woolback girth on holes 2 & 3. I sense a new girth in our future.
Also, I snugged up the breastcollar some when I put the saddle on. I'm not sure how it looked good before, but it seems to look fine now.
My trainer had mentioned that the Eurolight doesn't allow you to really get your knees against the horse. I hadn't understood that then. I do now. I suspect I could resolve that somewhat by using a thinner pad, and may experiment with putting the dressage pads back on to see if the sweat patterns are still good (or not).
 |
| Saddle looks awfully plain without a pink saddlebag, but I just wanted to RIDE. Also, the stirrup was on backwards. That did get fixed. |
Cantering:
Our canter work feels vastly improved. There are still times I'm up in a bastard two-point position. However, there are now a near-equal amount of times when I'm just calmly sitting and staying with her motion. I'm not entirely sure what's changed. The real test will be trying it in the Eurolight to see if I can keep that feeling.
Verdict: no, not really. My lower leg stability is not there in the Eurolight (probably related to my knees flaring out, see previous point!), and it is in the dressage saddle with knee blocks. I can hold the canter for a few strides and have it feel correct, but not the lengths we were getting in the Thorowgood. At this point, I think I will probably continue to work on those handful of strides, but make a point to pull out the Thorowgood weekly-or-so for canter sets.
Two-point and running martingales, or, I am very used to these Haflingers:
I've pondered for a while how folks would actually end up with horses hitting them in the head. I mean, I have to be falling forwards to hit her neck! It finally clicked: it seems like normal horses have a higher headset, Arabs/Saddlebred types in particular. Fetti and the other Haffies default to a flatter headset. Alternatively, I'm just not seeing the high-headed Haffie photos and low-headed other horse photos?
In any case, two-point is awfully hard in non-jumping length stirrups and with the mane three inches lower than I want to grab.
We're four weeks out from our next ride. Yikes! Expect some ride-prep (or lack thereof) posts soon.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Dealing with fear
Last week, I started off typing a post about how if I'm being honest with myself, arena work scares me on Fetti. I used to jump things with at least a reasonable amount of confidence. Walk trot canter in the arena? No problem. Now, I avoid even wandering aimlessly around the arena if I'm riding her, though I'll do it fearlessly on other horses.
About a month after I started leasing her, we were turning away from the water pump when it went on. She flew around the rest of the turn, likely threw in a buck, and bolted for the other end of the arena. I didn't stick the rest of the turn. It was mortifying - here I was, new to the barn, and my horse just ran loose in the crowded arena! I picked myself up, retrieved the horse, and got back on. We did a bit of walk/trot work before I hopped off, sore, bruised, and a bit scraped up. We quit working in that end of the arena.
She gets rushy and feels bolt-like after jumps, too, even when she's just going briskly. I quit jumping her much, or at least not very high and not very often. (Cross-country jumps, by the way? Totally fine. It's close enough to being on a trail that I know where she's going next.)
Honestly, a big part of the reason we ended up doing endurance is that she doesn't scare me the same way on the trail. Actually, if I'm being honest with myself, a second reason: I don't feel like I'm terrible at it and getting nowhere. It's easy to allow lower standards for myself because Fetti's an older horse (well, sort of!), an off-breed, and we're both new to it. Basically, it's okay if we fail at endurance, but if we fail at hunters or English stuff, that feels very not okay, so it's easier to just not try it at all. [Thought process not actually recommended, by the way.]
I'm not going to judge anyone else for what they choose to do or not do with their horse, for whatever reasons. I will judge me, though, and I can say this: it feels ridiculous to have a well-trained English horse who can jump and enjoys jumping.. and be too afraid to ride her in the arena despite being a former hunter rider. Reading through Cob Jockey's archives reminded me that I really do miss some of that.
I went to the barn Thursday with the intention of a 4-6 mile trail ride, a break for lunch or errands, and an arena work with some riding over poles. The plan was to call a local trainer for help with our canter - both transitioning into the canter and my atrocious seat at the canter. It turned out that I saw her at the barn, mentioned lesson scheduling, and committed to a lesson two hours later.
The anxiety kicked in almost immediately. What the hell did I think I was doing, scheduling an arena lesson to work on our canter departs? Our canter is awful, I'm a terrible rider, y'all know the drill. Off we went on a trail ride to work out the kinks (did I mention she hadn't been worked since Sunday?), back to the arena to hang out and calm nerves.
Trainer W started by longing Fetti over some barrels to check in with where her brain was. She would have had me jump them, but that sounded utterly terrifying and I opted out. Confetti thought the jumps were kinda boring, but politely trot/cantered it a few times anyway.
Once I was on, the entire lesson was in a four-leaf clover type pattern. Trot the straight line (pole on one side, trot straight, pole on the other), right-hand quarter turn around the circle, trot the straight line perpendicular to the first one, right-hand quarter turn around the circle, trot the straight line.. etc. Always turn the same direction in a quarter-turn and then ride a straight line, repeat. The idea was to ask for engagement in the hind end and get her stepping under herself.
Within fifteen minutes, we were getting solid canter departs and even keeping the canter. Other direction, same thing. With perhaps ten minutes left in the lesson, I commented that we might as well try jumping too. Trainer offered to set one up along a separate line. I clarified: no, on the pattern, just replace one of the poles with a low jump. Why not address all my anxieties in the same lesson?
So we did!
We took a long spot once; I felt her reaching and slipped her the reins to figure it out, brought her back, cantered around the corner. No bolt. No fear. Huh, this jumping thing is kind of fun again.
My position at the canter is still pretty awful. We didn't address that. She's not a dressage trainer or a jump trainer, and I'm okay with that! Confetti and I both know *how* to jump, and I just needed someone to give us a positive, confidence-building lesson. We can deal with my form in a few weeks, or I can call my usual trainer for a canter lesson, or I can keep working on that on the trail.. or maybe even in the arena.
Speaking of CobJockey, she's running a contest that y'all should check out - gift certificates are always good!
About a month after I started leasing her, we were turning away from the water pump when it went on. She flew around the rest of the turn, likely threw in a buck, and bolted for the other end of the arena. I didn't stick the rest of the turn. It was mortifying - here I was, new to the barn, and my horse just ran loose in the crowded arena! I picked myself up, retrieved the horse, and got back on. We did a bit of walk/trot work before I hopped off, sore, bruised, and a bit scraped up. We quit working in that end of the arena.
She gets rushy and feels bolt-like after jumps, too, even when she's just going briskly. I quit jumping her much, or at least not very high and not very often. (Cross-country jumps, by the way? Totally fine. It's close enough to being on a trail that I know where she's going next.)
Honestly, a big part of the reason we ended up doing endurance is that she doesn't scare me the same way on the trail. Actually, if I'm being honest with myself, a second reason: I don't feel like I'm terrible at it and getting nowhere. It's easy to allow lower standards for myself because Fetti's an older horse (well, sort of!), an off-breed, and we're both new to it. Basically, it's okay if we fail at endurance, but if we fail at hunters or English stuff, that feels very not okay, so it's easier to just not try it at all. [Thought process not actually recommended, by the way.]
I'm not going to judge anyone else for what they choose to do or not do with their horse, for whatever reasons. I will judge me, though, and I can say this: it feels ridiculous to have a well-trained English horse who can jump and enjoys jumping.. and be too afraid to ride her in the arena despite being a former hunter rider. Reading through Cob Jockey's archives reminded me that I really do miss some of that.
I went to the barn Thursday with the intention of a 4-6 mile trail ride, a break for lunch or errands, and an arena work with some riding over poles. The plan was to call a local trainer for help with our canter - both transitioning into the canter and my atrocious seat at the canter. It turned out that I saw her at the barn, mentioned lesson scheduling, and committed to a lesson two hours later.
The anxiety kicked in almost immediately. What the hell did I think I was doing, scheduling an arena lesson to work on our canter departs? Our canter is awful, I'm a terrible rider, y'all know the drill. Off we went on a trail ride to work out the kinks (did I mention she hadn't been worked since Sunday?), back to the arena to hang out and calm nerves.
 |
| No real effort required! |
Once I was on, the entire lesson was in a four-leaf clover type pattern. Trot the straight line (pole on one side, trot straight, pole on the other), right-hand quarter turn around the circle, trot the straight line perpendicular to the first one, right-hand quarter turn around the circle, trot the straight line.. etc. Always turn the same direction in a quarter-turn and then ride a straight line, repeat. The idea was to ask for engagement in the hind end and get her stepping under herself.
 |
| Reasonable trot. |
Within fifteen minutes, we were getting solid canter departs and even keeping the canter. Other direction, same thing. With perhaps ten minutes left in the lesson, I commented that we might as well try jumping too. Trainer offered to set one up along a separate line. I clarified: no, on the pattern, just replace one of the poles with a low jump. Why not address all my anxieties in the same lesson?
So we did!
 |
| A real jumping effort! |
We took a long spot once; I felt her reaching and slipped her the reins to figure it out, brought her back, cantered around the corner. No bolt. No fear. Huh, this jumping thing is kind of fun again.
My position at the canter is still pretty awful. We didn't address that. She's not a dressage trainer or a jump trainer, and I'm okay with that! Confetti and I both know *how* to jump, and I just needed someone to give us a positive, confidence-building lesson. We can deal with my form in a few weeks, or I can call my usual trainer for a canter lesson, or I can keep working on that on the trail.. or maybe even in the arena.
 |
| Possibly the first non-ride photo ever where I see myself as an endurance rider. |
 |
| Looking at - no, past! - the jump. |
 |
| Position needs work, but horse is honest and it wasn't scary! |
 |
| Stretchy walk, tired pony. |
Speaking of CobJockey, she's running a contest that y'all should check out - gift certificates are always good!
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