I have been having so much fun over the past couple of days and I simply have to tell you about it!
It started yesterday. My mom came out like she always does and she saddled me up and brought me out to the Flat Arena. We warmed up like we always do, by walking around the arena first one direction and then the other. My mom always starts out walking me on a pretty loose rein but by the end of my warm-up, she's gathered them up more. They're not tight at all but she has more contact - that's what she calls it when I can feel every move her hands are making and she can feel my mouth. Contact is something you have to get used to when you're a horse. When I first came to live with my mom, I didn't know anything about it and instead of just traveling lightly alone, I'd hang on the bit. That means I was sort of pulling against it. My mom says it's a common thing in former racehorses because when we run, our riders have a firm hold of us. In fact for racehorses, a tighter rein means to go faster.
My mom taught me not to hang on the bit by just letting the reins go loose. My head would drop nearly to the ground but I couldn't find any tightness to pull against. It made me feel kind of funny but I eventually got used to it and began picking my head up. Then my mom gently gathered up the reins and started feeling for a little contact. It was confusing to me at first. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to stop or go. One thing that helped was when she lunged me in side reins. She kept them very loose, and since they're stretchy, they didn't make me feel like my head was trapped, but they taught me that I could still move forward even when their was some contact on my mouth.
What's harder to learn though is how to Come On The Bit. I'm still just learning how to do that and it's hard work. It means that instead of just moseying along with your front legs out in front and your back legs sort of following, you really step under yourself with your back legs and use them to push your front part forward. In the process, you sort of push right into the bit and your mom can just touch your reins and you can feel what she wants. It takes a lot of muscle and coordination to learn how to move like that but I'm beginning to get the idea. Sometimes, I find myself pushing forward and reaching for that bit, especially when I'm trotting.
Well, yesterday after our warm-up, I figured we'd do more trot work and figure 8's and stuff because we've been doing a lot of work on that. But instead, my mom asked me to trot and when we reached the long side of the arena, she gave me the cue to canter! I was so happy. I love to canter. It's fun because it's sort of like galloping only more controlled and slower. I broke right into a nice canter and happily went down that whole side. When we reached the turn part, I got ready to slow down to a trot but my mom kept pushing me and I cantered most of the way around it until I just couldn't keep it up. It's hard to canter around a corner when you're carrying a rider. It takes a lot of balance and muscle and I'm not used to it. My mom was very happy with me though and I felt pretty good too.
I thought that was probably all we'd do but I was wrong. She kept asking for a canter and every time she encouraged me to keep going around the turn and to go as long as I could. It was so fun! I got a little excited at one point but she just tweaked my outside rein to steady me and as soon as I was going at a normal pace, she asked me again for that canter. After a while, we changed direction and worked on cantering the other way. That was even harder - I always do better when I'm going to the left for some reason but I kept trying and eventually I managed to canter reasonably well that way.
Finally I was beginning to get tired and my mom knew it. We hadn't been working for that long - not as long as we usually do on trotting - but since I'm not used to it, I was pretty worn out. We went for a nice Poop Loop then and that cooled me down and relaxed me nicely. I was pretty proud of myself and I knew my mom was pleased. Today we did some more canter work and it was even more fun because Sparky and his mom were in the arena with us. Spark and I trotted together and that was lots of fun. Then I cantered and Spark got to see how good I did it. He was proud of me too and sniffed my nose and rubbed his head on me to let me know. It was nice.
One time I even managed to canter all down one long side and all the way around the turn and partway up the other side. That was really fun. And when we finished, I got to go on a Poop Loop with Sparky and that was nice. So it's been an exciting and fun couple of days.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Bouncing weather
What a difference a week makes! The weather has taken a real turn and it's now chilly and damp. Yesterday it rained a lot but today it was just breezy and cool and my mom and I went for a ride.
I was kind of excited when she arrived because Coco's old mom was there fussing with Sparky. I suppose Coco's old mom is nice, and Sparky seems to like her, but she makes me mad because she's always taking him away and then I'm left all alone with nothing to do. At least Sparky's mom pays some attention to me, and usually gives me some carrot or cookies or something. Sometimes she cleans my stall or turns me out. She doesn't just ignore me completely like Coco's old mom. I mean, she says hello to me but that's about it.
But yesterday my mom arrived while she was saddling up Sparky so I knew that I'd be doing something too so I was happy. She got me out and groomed me and tacked me up and we went out into the Flat Arena to work. We were still warming up when another person came into the arena on her horse. It was a nice chestnut mare I've seen around but never had a chance to talk to or learn her name. Her mom is one of those people who watches other people riding and yells at them - my mom calls her an Instructor and says that what she's doing is giving Lessons. Well, as I told you, Sparky has been going to Lessons with Coco's old mom and he says it's fun but that it's hard work. I would think it would be. I don't know if I'd like being yelled at like that.
Anyway, they walked around for a while and then started trotting. I kind of wanted to trot too just because they were but my mom let me know with her seat that we weren't trotting yet so I kept walking. And when I say I was walking, I mean I was walking and not stopping a lot. I kind of picked up a habit of doing that during our warm-up, mostly because it's so relaxed, and my mom rides with a long, loose rein during that time. I like to walk along and stop occasionally just to look around or relax. But a couple of rides ago, my mom started getting strict about that. I have to admit I'd gotten so I was doing it a lot and I suppose she got sick of if.
So on that day, the first time I stopped, she squeezed with her legs and said, "Walk on," the way she does. When I didn't do it, she kicked me briskly with her heels and repeated herself. But when that didn't work, she just flicked her whip and smacked me hard in the butt! That startled me and I stepped right out and walked. Immediately, she was relaxed and calm and called me a Good Girl so I knew that's what she'd wanted. After a couple of repeats of that, I quit stopping and now I hardly ever do. And if I forget, all it generally takes is a threat of that whip for me to remember again.
Since I couldn't trot, I watched the other horse working. She obviously knew a lot more than me; her mom had her doing some of those fancy things that Kia used to do. Like one time she started out trotting along the rail toward us but then began going sort of sideways and forwards across the arena. It was kind of like what I did that one day when my mom was so happy with me and it looked really pretty. She also went down the center line and stopped nicely in the middle, and she did some nice circles that were actually round (my circles usually end up being sort of lumpy).
It was fun watching her do all that and I felt sort of impatient to learn that sort of thing. But then my mom asked me to trot and I forgot all about it in my happiness and excitement that I finally got to go faster.
I don't know what it is about cool weather, but it's so much fun to go fast and be bouncy when the air is nice and crisp and the wind is blowing! Even though I'd had a fun session of free lunging with lots of cantering and trotting, I was still pretty frisky and having another horse in the arena made me even more frisky. I don't know why that is either. Maybe because at the track we used to get to go fast and race each other and every time I start trotting or cantering around other horses, I want to pass them or show them how well I can run. I even do that with Sparky. I think that's why my mom works me by myself a lot. She wants me to focus on learning stuff instead of playing with my friends. But she also tries to ride me with other horses now and then and I've heard her tell people who have apologized for getting me excited that it's good for me to get used to it.
At any rate, I bounced right into a trot and I'm afraid I was rather strong at first. I was rushing and trying to break into a canter, and getting impatient and bouncing a lot. My mom just keeps reminding me with little twitches of my outside rein that I'm supposed to be listening to her but it's hard! Still, I'm getting so that I do listen pretty well - it's kind of a Habit now because we ride so regularly. So pretty soon, I settled into a fairly steady trot. It was still fast, and I was still kind of strong, but my mom always lightens up on my rein as soon as I smooth out even a little bit and I like that so much I pretty much always drop my head a little bit and reach for my bit. It's kind of a Process - I smooth out, she releases, I round and reach, then I forget and get bouncy again. So she twitches that rein, I smooth out, she releases...
It's a lot of work for both of us. I know it is for me anyway and it's got to be for her. I see a lot of horses and riders working and lots of them don't have to go through all that. The horses know what the Rules are and just follow them without a fuss and the riders don't have to spend every minute paying attention to each little signal their horse is giving them. I've even seen riders talking into those little small box things they all seem to carry without paying any real attention to their horse. My mom can't really do that most of the time. She's too busy talking to me, either out loud or with her seat and legs and hands.
This particular time, it was a lot of work and communicating but at one point, the other person told my mom that I was really coming along and that we'd made a lot of progress. I guess she's seen us working before. That was nice to hear and I know my mom was happy about it. She always feels good when people notice how all our work has paid off. And the other person seemed to understand about the bouncy part - she said lots of the horses were frisky.
So it was a good ride all in all. I was bouncy but not Bad. I don't rear anymore and I don't really try to run out from under my mom or bolt or refuse to do what she asks me to do. I almost never buck anymore although sometimes when she asks me to canter, I get excited and forget. I just get a little strong and bouncy when the weather's cool and windy and lots of horses do that.
I was kind of excited when she arrived because Coco's old mom was there fussing with Sparky. I suppose Coco's old mom is nice, and Sparky seems to like her, but she makes me mad because she's always taking him away and then I'm left all alone with nothing to do. At least Sparky's mom pays some attention to me, and usually gives me some carrot or cookies or something. Sometimes she cleans my stall or turns me out. She doesn't just ignore me completely like Coco's old mom. I mean, she says hello to me but that's about it.
But yesterday my mom arrived while she was saddling up Sparky so I knew that I'd be doing something too so I was happy. She got me out and groomed me and tacked me up and we went out into the Flat Arena to work. We were still warming up when another person came into the arena on her horse. It was a nice chestnut mare I've seen around but never had a chance to talk to or learn her name. Her mom is one of those people who watches other people riding and yells at them - my mom calls her an Instructor and says that what she's doing is giving Lessons. Well, as I told you, Sparky has been going to Lessons with Coco's old mom and he says it's fun but that it's hard work. I would think it would be. I don't know if I'd like being yelled at like that.
Anyway, they walked around for a while and then started trotting. I kind of wanted to trot too just because they were but my mom let me know with her seat that we weren't trotting yet so I kept walking. And when I say I was walking, I mean I was walking and not stopping a lot. I kind of picked up a habit of doing that during our warm-up, mostly because it's so relaxed, and my mom rides with a long, loose rein during that time. I like to walk along and stop occasionally just to look around or relax. But a couple of rides ago, my mom started getting strict about that. I have to admit I'd gotten so I was doing it a lot and I suppose she got sick of if.
So on that day, the first time I stopped, she squeezed with her legs and said, "Walk on," the way she does. When I didn't do it, she kicked me briskly with her heels and repeated herself. But when that didn't work, she just flicked her whip and smacked me hard in the butt! That startled me and I stepped right out and walked. Immediately, she was relaxed and calm and called me a Good Girl so I knew that's what she'd wanted. After a couple of repeats of that, I quit stopping and now I hardly ever do. And if I forget, all it generally takes is a threat of that whip for me to remember again.
Since I couldn't trot, I watched the other horse working. She obviously knew a lot more than me; her mom had her doing some of those fancy things that Kia used to do. Like one time she started out trotting along the rail toward us but then began going sort of sideways and forwards across the arena. It was kind of like what I did that one day when my mom was so happy with me and it looked really pretty. She also went down the center line and stopped nicely in the middle, and she did some nice circles that were actually round (my circles usually end up being sort of lumpy).
It was fun watching her do all that and I felt sort of impatient to learn that sort of thing. But then my mom asked me to trot and I forgot all about it in my happiness and excitement that I finally got to go faster.
I don't know what it is about cool weather, but it's so much fun to go fast and be bouncy when the air is nice and crisp and the wind is blowing! Even though I'd had a fun session of free lunging with lots of cantering and trotting, I was still pretty frisky and having another horse in the arena made me even more frisky. I don't know why that is either. Maybe because at the track we used to get to go fast and race each other and every time I start trotting or cantering around other horses, I want to pass them or show them how well I can run. I even do that with Sparky. I think that's why my mom works me by myself a lot. She wants me to focus on learning stuff instead of playing with my friends. But she also tries to ride me with other horses now and then and I've heard her tell people who have apologized for getting me excited that it's good for me to get used to it.
At any rate, I bounced right into a trot and I'm afraid I was rather strong at first. I was rushing and trying to break into a canter, and getting impatient and bouncing a lot. My mom just keeps reminding me with little twitches of my outside rein that I'm supposed to be listening to her but it's hard! Still, I'm getting so that I do listen pretty well - it's kind of a Habit now because we ride so regularly. So pretty soon, I settled into a fairly steady trot. It was still fast, and I was still kind of strong, but my mom always lightens up on my rein as soon as I smooth out even a little bit and I like that so much I pretty much always drop my head a little bit and reach for my bit. It's kind of a Process - I smooth out, she releases, I round and reach, then I forget and get bouncy again. So she twitches that rein, I smooth out, she releases...
It's a lot of work for both of us. I know it is for me anyway and it's got to be for her. I see a lot of horses and riders working and lots of them don't have to go through all that. The horses know what the Rules are and just follow them without a fuss and the riders don't have to spend every minute paying attention to each little signal their horse is giving them. I've even seen riders talking into those little small box things they all seem to carry without paying any real attention to their horse. My mom can't really do that most of the time. She's too busy talking to me, either out loud or with her seat and legs and hands.
This particular time, it was a lot of work and communicating but at one point, the other person told my mom that I was really coming along and that we'd made a lot of progress. I guess she's seen us working before. That was nice to hear and I know my mom was happy about it. She always feels good when people notice how all our work has paid off. And the other person seemed to understand about the bouncy part - she said lots of the horses were frisky.
So it was a good ride all in all. I was bouncy but not Bad. I don't rear anymore and I don't really try to run out from under my mom or bolt or refuse to do what she asks me to do. I almost never buck anymore although sometimes when she asks me to canter, I get excited and forget. I just get a little strong and bouncy when the weather's cool and windy and lots of horses do that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)