Playin' Around

So this week has been a lot of fun and quite a bit different for me! I've been getting up real early (the likes of 5:30 to 6ish) almost daily to get to the barn to play before the heat kicks in. With the heat index here topping 100 for several days in a row I was melting when finishing riding at 11am! It's been fun to say the least, and I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit with Duck.
Finally after almost 3 years, she is cantering online on the 22ft line. It's far from totally relaxed, but much improved on our former range of non-existent canter to raging dead gallop with lots of bucking and pulling my arm out of the socket.
For instance since last week, we've gone from 36+laps at the canter to the left (her easier direction) before getting a marked improvement in relaxation, rhythm, and contact, to yesterday about 12 laps to the right (which is her much harder, I'm going to yank the heck out of you, and crossfire to boot) direction. She is still fast while cantering, really fast at times, but most of the time after a few laps I am getting some slack in the line and to the right she is now more consistently picking up the right lead, and without cross-firing! She is also stopping dead in her tracks to ask questions occasionally which at least means she is checking in!
Cantering while riding, not near as good. Sometimes I wonder if we're just going to have to go the crazy fast you can canter until you want to relax route, but she can be SO unbalanced and heavy on the forehand I worry about us taking a spill which wouldn't be good for either of us. On the flip side though there have been a few days where I have gotten more than 1/2 lap with a very nice relaxed canter, both directions so I think that is a huge improvement!
We've also been playing around with the weave while riding and getting more relaxation at the trot. Can you tell that relaxation is on the agenda?
And the other fun in playin' around this week has been in playing with two of my friends' horses. On Tuesday I got to play with Melissa's horse Tucker. He is from my observation a LBE/LBI gaited Kentucky Mountain Horse. Ok, well I kind of stole him when I had seen her struggle so long over the course of a few months I couldn't stand it anymore with sideways and him running her over constantly. And like she said later in the session, she's so used to it that she didn't even notice! (even though I have mentioned the running over you thing to her before :) )To which my BFO is 'WOW" I am not the only one who's horse does stuff they shouldn't be and not notice it! LOL
Let's just say that I think an hour later things were much better although Wednesday morning my body did not quite agree with me. My arms do not appreciate being taken sand skiing even when in a power position (which I probably did not utilize enough), but well I just don't know that there was a way around it. Perhaps there was, but I certainly didn't have that arrow in my quiver to improve his attitude without some opposition. Tucker likes running the show and he didn't like my idea that he shouldn't be pulling my arm out of the socket constantly as a prerequisite to sideways! All in all though on Wednesday the two of them seemed very happy.
Yesterday I was able to play with and ride Liz's horse, Eli. He is a very well seasoned horse, also LBI. I learned so much from him! See I only have Duck to play with. Can only afford one horse, generally only have time to play with one horse anyway if I'm lucky. So there tends to be that comfort in the relationship of what is expected, how things go etc. Well Eli was a quick reminder not to be so complacent with other horses! I about got myself kicked playing the falling leaf by not sending him out enough sideways away from me. He REALLY likes to kick out! It took about 10 reps before he quit kicking out! WOW! Talk about an eye opener! He was just voicing his opinion that he didn't like the idea of yielding his shoulder! After we got on the same page I rode him for awhile. Liz had said I could borrow him to canter since Duck's canter is so inconsistent. Wow what a dream! I felt like I was if I'd been driving I would have been in the luxury SUV! It is amazing how so many miles and experience on a horse can teach a rider. He was wonderful! He seemed to enjoy my company as well because I tried to have Christian cool him out riding him and he didn't want to leave me. What a sweetie!
So that's been the week so far! Lots of BFO moments and lots of fun! Thanks so much to Melissa and Liz for letting me play with their wonderful partners!

Level 2/3 Camp at Carol Coppinger's Farm

I had the wonderful opportunity again this year to attend a 4 day level 2/3 camp at 5* Parelli Instructor Carol Coppinger's Farm near Nashville, Tennessee. It is about a 7 hour drive with the horse and this time the hubby and the kids didn't stay. I drove behind Niels in our car and followed him pulling the trailer.
4 days of uninterrupted horse time. Life does not get much better than that! We built on what we had done last year including more patterns such as the weave, circles, etc. We also did quite a bit of cantering, and simple lead changes. On day 4 we got an introduction to "the game of contact" which was a ton of fun! I hadn't ridden Duck much in a bridle, but had her in the cradle bridle (which she loves!) for this.
A lot of people (the clinic tends to be the same group year after year) including Carol said we were looking pretty good and that we had made headway from last year, so that was nice to hear. I feel like we've accomplished quite a bit but of course not near as much as I would like!
We did so much it would be too much to list it all, but as usual Carol exceeded all my expectations and we made lots of positive progress. Duck did come up lame again on the last day, in her left knee again, so it is going to be x-rays to check it out. I am hoping it is nothing serious, and part of me wonders why it keeps showing up and this time after more than 4 days of harder work. Prior to the clinic I had trail ridden her and she had been turned out and ran pretty hard in the arena.
What is really interesting is that I used the red light treatment on it at Carol's but didn't ride after I got her home, and today she was quite zippy and seemed pretty good. That was mostly at liberty in the round pen though, so we will see how she looks on the 22ft tomorrow.
Of course the clinic was so good, I had to sign up for next year!

On the Mend

So since I posted last a couple weeks ago Duck has been pretty much on rest. The day after my post the vet came out to do shots, teeth etc, and I wanted her to check out Duck's left knee. She had whacked it pretty hard a couple of times on her stall door back in January before I got her stall guard. Why would she whack it? Well to get to the grass of course! She figured out that if she leaned into the door with her chest and then whacked her leg against it (probably several times) she could pop the screws on the latch and get out to happily graze the hay field. I can't say I blame her. At that time the horses were in their stalls a lot (more than I like her to be) with the sloppy and cold weather.

So it hadn't fully healed or something else was going on so I had the vet do a lameness exam. She scared me again by using the "n" word, fearing that since the lameness was in the same area, the left front that it might be Navicular changes in the foot. YIKES! The vet was VERY surprised then when she did knee flexion and Duck came up extremely sore on that knee. WHEW! Anyway that meant time off, 15 days to be exact and bute (horsey aspirin).

So now we are coming off her rest time and we've pretty much just been walking. I started with hand walking and now am riding at the walk, and trotting on the straightaways sometimes. She offered a canter towards the hayfield and I went with about 12 strides because it just felt so good! But we'll see how that knee is faring tomorrow. I thought she was a bit off today, but when I flexed her knee and trotted her off she didn't seem sore to me.

So we're just going real easy and working our way back into things. I need her sound for our level 2/3 camp in June! So here's hoping she does ok. Otherwise I am going to be calling my friend Jody up and telling her to bring 2 horses instead of just one for her!

Keep it natural!

Turbo Drive!

Ok so I had the kiddos at the barn today with me. They were running around enjoying themselves near the water.

My plan had been to continue practicing 2 carrot stick riding, and on the bowtie still.

My friend Liz and I were playing/riding out in the play area by the pond. Started on the ground on the 22ft line practicing sideways and a few figure 8's.

I was practicing figure 8's and then moved onto the bow tie at the trot, or so I thought! We did a couple laps trot, walk around the cone etc. Then I decided to canter and we did one loop around the cone, and then whew we were going at the canter, quickly. We missed our turn at the cone and kept going.
Duck slowed down alright, not super great but not horribly, and she wasn't trying to buck so I thought I'd play with this higher speed since we haven't done it at all.

WOW! My horse can GO! And although it felt super fast to me, Liz says we weren't going as fast as it seemed. But we just played with going and then slowing, life up, life down. At first she got on a bit of adrenaline, not wanting to slow, but as I played with it and towards the end I cantered, then asked her for a short gallop of a few strides and then quit to eat grass.

Granted our brakes weren't perfect but wow it felt good to GO that fast and not feel like I was going to get bucked off at any moment. And we were riding in open spaces!

Very fun, it was like being in Turbo Drive today!

Oh, I and now I can't get her OFF the pedestal! Every time we go near it, she puts all 4 feet up there and then looks at me for her cookie! :) Fun times! Now I just need to move on to the smaller one!

She has been slightly off for awhile in her left front, and the vet is finally coming tomorrow. So hopefully it's nothing serious, but with all the cantering we did today, she should be lame if she is going to show lameness for the vet.

So we'll see how the appointment goes tomorrow, but the play is going great!

Lots of Fun and Play!

The last couple of sessions with Duck have been very fun! The other day when we played we tried driving with 2 reins for the first time ever! I had two 22 ft lines, and had them through loose loops on the bareback pad so they wouldn't be so heavy to carry, but would come out if needed. It took a little while but she seemed to get the hang of it. We drove from the pasture down to the arena. Got tangled after my loop came undone, started over and then went in and around the arena a couple of times. I then decided to drive her down to the play area by the pond and it went fairly well once I got her going!

I haven't had the opportunity recently to play for a long period of time. Yesterday I had an hour and was going to ride, but when I got there Duck was a shedding disaster! Hair everywhere! So instead, she grazed the hayfield and I curried and groomed for almost an hour! The hair never really quit, I just did. After that I had about 20 minutes left so Duck got a partial massage. (yeah she is WAY more pampered than me! LOL) She has some soreness in her back but it is hard to know exactly why. My farrier did notice that she was tighter than usual which made me realize I need to get back into a regular stretching routine as well. So I worked some points out of her back and stretched her legs and neck.

Today was a really fun day! I got there and we tacked up while she was in her stall. Brought 2 carrot sticks, a string, a 22ft line, hackamore, and her new confidence snaffle. We headed down to the arena to drop off some stuff and then I realized I could hopefully do all that I had wanted to for the session in the grassy play area by the pond. So we went down and played on the 22ft line. We have been having squeeze issues recently, more specifically with the bridge (which I think had to do with her confidence being lost when she fell off the bridge and scraped her leg way back when) so I decided to focus on squeeze game for awhile. When I realized we were having issues was last week when I asked her to come up to the bridge so I could get on, and she wanted nothing to do with it!
We started with the pedestal, first getting 2 feet, then all 4 on the pedestal. (Can you say, "cookie, please?")
Then we went to the bridge. After several tries she got her front feet up most of the ramp and I am considering that a success for the day!
We also played with the new telephone pole circling and maintaining gait at the trot. An interesting thing happened in that she kept wanting to canter after going over the pole. I have been wanting her to canter so I allowed it. First she only cantered a stride, the next time around all the way around and over the pole again. When she got over the pole she went fast and then stopped turned and faced and then backed up. This is a trick that she has been trying since a couple weeks ago. She did it when I was asking her for the canter. Today I let her drift (and it was a lot backwards) and then I just quit circling and we went on to practicing sideways.
Recently I have been trying to practice our sideways over stuff like ground poles, the new pole, and one barrel. It is not as easy as it looks! Duck is still wanting to go forward enough to get over the obstacle completely. Today while going to the right (her harder direction) I took it really, really slow but did almost the whole length of the telephone pole. 1-2 steps at a time and we made it! Yeah!
Moving on to riding I started with the hackamore and rode in the play area. Got over to the pedestal and did 2 feet and then doing it again we got all 4 up there! That was our first time getting all 4 feet up while riding!
Did the sideways thing over the log, just the last couple feet of it. She really wants to come forward while I am riding. Then we went to the bridge and she put one foot on the bridge so that was good.
Then since I need to practice freestyle carrot stick riding with 2 sticks I tied up my reins and rode with just 2 carrot sticks out in the open by the pond still. That was a first for us! The bowtie pattern at a trot and walk (mostly), some sideways with the fence, 2 feet on the pedestal, etc.
On the bowtie pattern she kept wanting to canter the direction of home, and did. I was proud that I didn't grab the reins right away and was able to stop her with my body and the sticks. We did some yo-yo's while on the bowtie pattern and got some more whoa happening!
And for one more thing in our busy fun day I put the reins on the bridle. This was only the 3rd time I had done this. We were back in the arena for this, and just played with the fluidity rein on the circle to the left to which she did some real nice blowing and breathing with a some longitudinal stretching!
We ended our day with me spraying her in the wash stall. Once while I was riding in the arena she was pawing and acting like she wanted to roll. I took the saddle off in the arena after I was done and she didn't roll. I then sprayed her with what turned out to be HOT water. Someone had hooked the hose up to just the hot side on the water, and I thought it was the cold side. Why would someone do that? Good thing I caught it before it got too hot! We went back to the arena and I was trying to get her to roll, pawing the ground myself etc. I have thought that she was totally too unconfident to roll around me which may still be the case, but after I pawed the ground and circled, she did a bit too, and I just sat down. She waited a bit, took a few steps, rolled (and flipped all the way over and back) and then got up real quick. But she did roll with me there!
This is why I don't blog so often. When I do, it is so long and boring that no one is possibly going to want to read it all. I am too long winded when writing. I guess I need to play with having more short, interesting and effective blogs....
Well for now, that is all.

More pictures from the play date

Here are some more pictures from the play day. I just love how cute Duck looks out there with Eli in the field! They ran around for awhile, and of course had to meet the other horses over the fence!

Parelli Playdate!

This last Saturday I had the opportunity to finally go to a Parelli Playdate! Got to trailer off the farm and head to Mariah Helms' place in Wingate. WOW, what a beautiful place. I have been there before, but it still is just such a nice farm!
Liz came along as well (since she has the horse trailer after all and wanted a fun day out) and we headed down.

We came up with a new slogan that we need to use as a sticker on Liz's trailer for when Duck and Eli are trailered together. "If the trailer's rockin' don't come a knockin!"

Duck and Eli are hilarious! It is a 2-horse straighload trailer, but there is no separation between their heads, so they can reach over and bother each other. And bother they do! It is constant! And they do it so much the trailer really does get to rockin'!

After we arrived we played in Mariah's new play area which is a big open area with obstacles as well as a new round corral. Duck did very well considering being in a new place and that we don't get to play in the open as much as I would like. We played online in the morning using the obstacles such as logs, poles, etc. I even played with Laura's mini named Ace, but that little LBE gave me a run for my money! He has a habit of pulling very hard on the lead and taking off! I seriously don't think that Duck has ever pulled on me that hard! Little guy got away twice! The first time just caught me off guard, and the second time he waited until I was talking to Liz to take off! Oh well, now I know not to hold the very end of the rope with a new horse like that. There just wasn't enough play in the rope for me to recover! LOL

At lunch we turned Duck and Eli out together in Mariah's huge pasture! I told her we may end up playing the catching game! Both Duck and Eli were loving all that room! But by the time we got back, she was at the gate and after coming to me once and then trotting off and then coming again, she was ready to "catch me". Later I found out from Mariah's mom that Duck and Eli had heard us coming and ran over to the gate to greet us! I can't think of a better compliment than that, it surely made my day!

We rode in the afternoon out in the same area. I practiced with some of the obstacles and also with going across the field and back several times. Christian, Mariah's brother and Bethany who were also at the playdate were running their horses back and forth randomly. Of course since Duck isn't used to galloping horses it upped her emotions. So it was good to just play with keeping her relaxed in spite of the thundering hooves!

Lately Duck has been super choppy wanting to canter all the time when I ask for the trot. So at the playdate I did the circling pattern around a log to try and get her more relaxed. It worked! It took quite a few laps there, but this week when I did the same she was much more relaxed at the trot and not trying to rush off!

All in all, it was a great playdate and I was tired by the end of the day. I think I was gone for 12 hours total with the trailering there, playdate, trailering back and unloading everything and taking care of Duck for the evening. Good thing I have a super supportive awesome hubby that watched the kids all that time so that I could play with Duck and my friends. I don't get to do that sort of thing very often because of working and time constraints on the weekends so it was a real treat! I am looking forward to being able to do it again really soon!