Barn Day!

So today was awesome barn and horse wise. My friend Kristy and I had planned ahead for her to come up and ride UK today. (Today was also the first anniversary of her horse's death. Shoamy Luv was a fantastic mare, and is greatly missed!)

So Uke (as I've been calling him lately) got groomed and tacked up and then we went out to the ring. He got lunged a little bit first, as Kristy wanted to see him go over the cavalletti. Then I got on him and rode him through his spooks. He has a two main bad behaviors and I dealt with them both. It was so nice to ride him! Once we had gotten him focused and on task he was fun and I just looooooove his canter (and so does my poor back). We cantered a pole with me on him for the first time. He was, again, fantastic! He really enjoys doing new things!

So I only rode him 10 to 20 minutes, then it was Kristy's turn! She really hadn't ridden in over a year. It's funny, I'm such an equitation rider at heart, so watching Kristy ride is weird for me. She's such a dressage rider! XD

As I wasn't the one riding, I took pictures! YAY! It was so cool to see him go, as sometimes you just need to see how your horse goes with a rider on him.

Anyhoo, here's a slideshow of the pictures I took!

So toodles till next time!

Jumping in the rain

So I ended up lunging UK again last night. It was a spur of the moment thing as I hadn't planned on having to be at the barn that evening.
I moved my little jumps around so we had the small cavalletti towards the inside again, and a small ramped oxer slightly higher then the cavalletti on the outside. On the opposite side of the ring I had set up a larger vertical (about 1'8").
I groomed UK and got him all set with brushing boots in the front and polos behind, and then off we went. Well of course, as soon as I set foot in the ring the clouds started getting heavier. By the time we were done it was raining steadily.
We warmed up by starting tracking left as it seems to be his weaker side (I came to this conslusion as he likes to drop his right shoulder). After flatting for a bit we started by popping over the cavalletti at a nice relaxed trot. He's gained enough confidence that he just relaxes and pops over it now instead of the awkward "trot, trot, trot, huh? where do I put my feet, whack, ee, oo, ah, whew, trot, trot, trot." Then we progressed to a canter and eventually popped over the cavalletti a couple times before moving on to the vertical.
You could tell he'd never jumped anything bigger then a cavalletti before, but he was soooo game! I'm really very proud of him! He went over the vertical the first time like a champ! As he landed he got this little gleam in his eye and seemed to glow with pride. He was praised and I didn't even have to ask him to keep going he wanted to do it again! I let him do it a couple of times and then we progressed to the oxer.
UK loves to jump! With little or no prompting from me he did the oxer a couple more times, then the oxer to the vertical. Yes here and then he got a little too fast and messed up his distance, but he never stopped trying. We took a break for me to pick up the fallen rails and then he was game to try again (I never end with a downed jump).
His other big progress was not having a fit over hitting or knocking the jumps. He obviously wasn't happy with himself, but he'd finally learned that just continuing to go forward is better then throwing a fit.
We did everything tracking right next, and he was equally awesome. He really impressed me with how game he was to try new things. It's a completely different side of him, as when he's just flatting he tends to spook easy. Nothing phased him as he jumped, not the rain or the fact that the sun had set and we were basically jumping in the dark at the end.
I'm really beginning to think he was born to be a hunter or an equitation horse. If I hadn't bought him and he'd just continued to do western pleasure the rest of his life..... well, what a waste. It's fairly normal to have a horse who jumps well and looks good doing it, it's another to have a horse that enjoys jumping, it's unbelievable when you have a horse that is both!
So weather permitting, I'm going to continue the lunge work whenever I'm not up to riding. I'm grateful just to have a horse that likes me again!

Toodles!

Our lunging weekend.

So it's quickly become apparent that it's exhausting being pregnant (Yes I know, that should be obvious).
I feel like one of those jugglers that's already juggling a bunch of knives and someone suddenly threw a flaming torch into the mix! The pregnancy brain alone is making things way more complicated. *yawns* Like I said before, this is exhausting!
My juggling skills were really put to a test this week, but I was determined to make time for UK on the weekend, weather permitting. So I got up Saturday and went up to the barn, fed, cleaned and snapped a lunge line on my spiffy Stacy Westfall Training Halter (I'm a big enough fan of this halter to mention it by name!) which I had put on UK.
So out to the ring we went, and we walked over to the nice wide (about 16feet) cavalletti height jump I'd put out for him. I was immediatly given the puppy eyed look, that seemed to say "that's for you, not me, right?" We warmed up by lunging walk/trot over a couple of ground poles both directions, then it was jump time!
He was a good boy, having been lunged over small jumps in the past before I owned him. He's good with his knees, but tends to get distracted and then have a bit of an awkward jump every few times. Half the wide jump was a standard wood cavalletti which I had closest to me, then I had a pole going from the cavalletti to a jump standard on the rail. I'd also given the small jump nice white ground poles on each side.
I was just about to end our little session when he hit the pole and knocked it down. He threw the funniest little temper tantrum! Bucking, head tossing, pure disgust and humiliation radiating from him. But then he slammed on the brakes and stared at me quivering, as if awaiting a punishment from me (e.g., a beating). I had been laughing, but seeing him waiting to be whacked just horrified me! Needless to say he wasn't punished, I just made him move forward and get over himself and then we did it again once I had put the pole back up. He then jumped it perfectly and we ended after he'd done it nicely both ways, as I didn't want to end too close to his little fit.
He was rewarded and released (cantering and head tossing out in the field).
I then had tons of stuff to do at home including throwing a double party for my sister and parents....

Sunday dawned grey and wet. I went up to feed and clean (Betsy is away so it's just me for all feedings and barn cleaning till she gets back). The rain had tapered back to just a disgusting drizzle. Enough to get you soaked, but not enough to really stop you from doing anything.
I was resolute and went out to the ring to modify the jump from the day before. I left our original wide jump/cavalletti but now added a second that was narrower one stride away. Thus I had the option of having him just do the inside of the wide jump, or having him go closer to the rail and do the one stride combination. I left the new jump half down to make it easier, with nice ground lines like the other jump.
I went back and got UK ready, this time putting on his (his in a loose term) brushing boots as it was now cooler thanks to the constant drizzle. This time we warmed up without looking at things first or going over ground poles. Once he was nice and loose and listening well we started out over the inside cavalletti until he was staying relaxed over it and maintaining the same pace. We repeated it the other direction and then did some nice canter without going over anything.
Then it was time to try the new thing!! (As far as I know, he'd never done two jumps in a row before, as he was only trained western and had learned about jumping in order to show a perspective buyer.) So he did it first try, no spooking or stopping. Once he seemed comfortable and had figured out the distance somewhat we took a break and I made it a full jump by picking the rail off the ground.
He was fantastic and really seemed to enjoy the new challenge. Occaisionaly he would test me and get fresh, or throw a fit if he hit a pole (the fits grew less dramatic as he slowly realized I didn't care and he'd just have to do it again). At one point a Red Tailed Hawk flew out of the woods and within 10 feet of his face and he was landing, that caused a fit, but I just made him keep going and ignored his drama.
We wrapped up by doing some groundwork as we cooled off (I say we, as in order for him not to have to be turning as he landed I was running with him so he could approach and depart straight), playing some follow the leader without anything attached to his halter. Then we stopped, I took his boots off and we continued walking, stopping again in a few minutes to remove the halter. We finished by exiting the ring with nothing on him and him politely following me till he was given a treat and dismissed.

Now the rain has finally stopped today, and I'm going to borrow my Mother-in-law's endurance saddle again and try to go for a ride tonight when I go up to feed and tuck them in for the night. I've been have a major pregnancy symptom day and really need to do something for me.

Needless to say, I think my goal of competing in The Ride For the Cure this year is just not going to happen. Which is really disappointing but there is always next year. I promised my Husband I would not jump till after the baby is born, and I think going on a hunter pace is even more dangerous then jumping at home. So my new focus and to continue UK's training over jumps on his own, so that way he can figure out his balance on his own. We'll continue to desensitize him to scary things and help him to get braver. If we eventually get to a point that I feel safe to take him on a trail ride with someone else, that would be amazing.

So simpler goals for this year. Next year? Ooooh trust me, I have ideas already!! XD

Toodles!

Bath time!

First off, UK would like me to say that I'm a cruel and heartless mommy. I not only forced him to take a bath before he got to go out and play Saturday, but I did the meanest thing to him as well! I WASHED HIS FACE WITH A SPONGE! Oh the horror!

Ok, now then, for my side of the story....

Saturday dawned bright and hot, I had planned on taking an early morning ride after I'd fed the critters. I was forced to rethink my plans however, as I'd woken up with a strange new rash that seemed to get itchier when I got hot (more on that later). So I decided that my mission would be to give my disgusting smelling horse a bath instead. Needless to say he wasn't as excited as I was about getting him clean.

I fed them, chatted with the barn owner's dog sitter, and then started prepping him for his bath. I'd carefully considered Savannah's feelings and made her a small paddock near the bathing area to graze in while I bathed him. Hoping that she wouldn't yell at me for taking him away if she was only 5 feet away.

Then it was bath time! I led both horses out, letting Sav into her grazing area and brought UK over to our very fancy bathing area. The bathing area is the driveway, and there is a tree for tying although it's rarely used (I did use it this time with haystring). Well once he realized what I was doing, he was not pleased at all. Thus began the battle!

In his defense he's pretty good about everything up to half way up his neck. He'll go backwards to test you a few times, but if you stand your ground and don't give in an inch, then he'll pause, give up and walk back towards you (THIS IS THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARES AND GELDINGS FYI, as a mare will drag you to hell before she gives in).

So the bath went pretty well, with a couple of silly spooks to try to distract me. However I was determined to wash his face, as it was gross due to daily flymask wearing. So I rinsed him off and filled a strongid bucket (most useful buckets by the way) with water and a small sponge. I proceeded to not give in and just keep at him, never mean, only chastising him when was being rude, and repeating over and over "I'm not going to wash your ears, I promise."

HUZZAH! It took fifteen minutes but I got all the grime off his face with just plain old water and a sponge.

His reward was to get turned out immediately afterwards. So we collected Sav and went back in the barn for flymasks and flyspray.

Normally UK walks calmly out of the barn, but not then! He couldn't get away from me fast enough! So I give him a few minutes, then walked out to the field with some treats as an apology for all the horrible things I'd done to him. I knew how he'd react, so I brought my phone with me. The video is below, the funny breathing noises are me trying not to laugh out loud. I eventually gave in and laughed.

Overdue Update

My what a crazy month July was! After the heatwave broke life just went zero to sixty.
I managed to get to ride a few times, the last time was a week or so ago. The humidity had finally broken and I borrowed my Mother-in-law's Tucker endurance type saddle. Gel seat, english leathers, etc.
I arrived at the barn to discover UK was missing a front shoe. His foot was in great shape so I wrapped his foot and rode anyways. Oooooh it was such a nice ride, despite all the distractions. It seemed to be Mother Nature's play date with us. First a young fox was bounding around, trying to get our attention. Then a doe and her twin fawns were playing in the field alongside the ring. Finally there was a rabbit that kept hopping in and out of the shadows. And with a grand finale, a pack of motorcycles flying by on the freshly stoned road!

And now for why things have been so crazy! I found out I'm pregnant, yay! At the moment I'm about 10 and a half weeks. Riding when it's not too hot really helps sooth the pregnancy symptoms.

Now that UK has new shoes I'm really looking forward to getting to ride again!