green to 100

Random Green Christmas musings

Christmas Day. December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas to team green and my blog readers.

As this first Christmas on my endurance journey closes I have some loose thoughts to share…

I want to say thanks for the wonderful gifts I’ve gotten this year:

From Team Green’s Florida Contingent (Sarah & Madison) we got an early delivery of Omega Fields Horsehine supplements for hoof & health support. Both girls’ hooves are looking great, and their coats are healthy even in a few weeks from adding it. Also to help our feet stay in good shape this winter a new rider rasp to help clean them up in between winter farrier visits!

From Susan who is the newest member of the team and has been coming to do training rides on Faygo (which have been great for both training and conditioning for Khaleesi) we got help with a new set of front Renegade hoof boots for Faygo- to keep her moving through the winter without wearing out her front feet.

Also from Susan a training log for 2016 to help us keep track of our miles and ride calendar for the year!

My husband Ed (an honorary member of team green since he’s supportive from afar) continues to be my ‘gear guy’ and always comes up with thoughtful gifts to keep us riding in all weather and conditions!

This Christmas he geared me up with half a dozen under-layers in every different weight and color- tops and bottoms… some with half zip, some with hoods, some with V necks, some with extra long arms that extend over my hands… super light for spring and ultra heavy for the coldest winter days- along with a bag of hand warmers, toasty toes and even the full feet insoles.

He also picked up a nice red on black biothane breast collar that I’d been looking at to go with my new saddle. (pictures of that to come… when my saddle shows up STILL WAITING on that… it’s just about killing me trying to be patient!)

Also with a new saddle I need a new saddle pad- my mom sent a new Diamond Wool saddle pad that I’d wanted. She also sent some great cold weather tops to help keep me snuggly and warm- I won’t have to do laundry now for weeks and still have great clean gear!

We are lucky to have such a great home barn and always consider Laurie as part of the team- even if she’s not with us often a hay feeder, or bucket, or fencing system, or just about anything else we might need and not have of our own is always there for us to borrow- and she gave me my absolutely favorite snuggly riding pants. On the few super cold days we have had I just want to wear them – riding or not! I’ve never put on a pair of pants so cozy and warm in my life!

our happy barn home- the nicest barn I will probably ever share!

My sister-in-law Kathy is not officially on team green and says she’s terrified of horses- but she drew my name in our santa swap and picked up a couple pairs of my favorite smart-wool snowboard socks (my current ones have threadbare heels).

We are so lucky this Christmas to get so many great gifts helping us on toward our eventual goal- 100 mile one day ride… though this year the short term goal is taking on the 50s sound and healthy if possible.

Christmas week has no riding as I’m on the road visiting family for the holidays. This year it doesn’t feel quite so bad because it’s pouring rain at home with flash flood warnings.

I have tried to continue working toward our goals even on the road! Peggy Sue and I are out there each day jogging 4 or 5 miles to offset the wonderful celebratory meals we’ve been part of. I know Khaleesi is better off every pound I can shed and to stay fit and in shape myself!

As Peggy Sue and I were jogging this afternoon I was listening to my favorite Christmas album (Sufjan Stevens- Songs for Christmas) and when The Friendly Beasts came on it touched me to be reminded the part equines played in the Christmas story- and how God choose a barn to be the first stop of the Christ Child.

It was a donkey that carried Mary…. and a donkey that carried Jesus later… and many times in between. It was a rainy afternoon and as I listened to the lyrics I was really touched and it made me miss our barn today:

(Listen to my favorite version here)

Jesus our bother, kind and good; was humbly born in a stable rude. And the friendly beasts around him stood. Jesus our brother, kind and good.

“I” said the donkey, shaggy and brown, “I carried His mother up hill and down; I carried her safely to Bethlehem town. “I” said the donkey, shaggy and brown.

The song goes on with the parts all the animals played in welcoming the little baby Savior: the cow gave the manger and hay to pillow his head; the sheep gave wool to keep him warm; the dove cooed him to sleep so he should not cry; the camels brought the wise men bearing gifts…

Thus every good beast by some good spell in the stable dark was glad to tell of the gift he gave Emmanuel.

I’m not one to get overly concerned about celebrating special days. Sure- I like to do something special for birthdays… but I also like to try to make every day a day to celebrate and give thanks as much as I can. I try to find special moments on random days to enjoy and be thankful for. I hope I don’t only use our anniversary to tell my husband that I appreciate him and celebrate our life together… and on the flip side if we have a nice dinner together on the 19th instead of the 21st that doesn’t bother me at all.

I did feel a special moment today with Peggy Sue, looking out over Western PA, jogging in the rain and finding some pretty blooms and berries left on random trees- hearing the song about how the animals welcomed baby Jesus in the barn and even though December 25th may have little to do with that event- it’s still the day we chose to remember it, and for a moment I stood quietly and pondered what it meant in my heart.

I hope you found a special moment today- or many- with family, friends, animals, horses or even that moment alone. Joy and Peace.

Merry Christmas.

The Good Deal.

Monday, December 21, 2015

Always offer the horse a good deal first. Then if they don’t take it do what it takes to get it done. If you’re consistent the will start to take you up on the good deal and you’ll need less effort each try.

**Every detail counts: I try to be more aware of all my interactions from walking over to the pasture to tacking up. I have a different way of approaching and putting on the rope halter now that asks them to participate and I ask new riders who come to try the same things because they are important to me. It treats the horses as partners from the first contact and considers them as beings from the start.

Each step to the barn is part of the dance and we do different speeds, back ups and even throw in a circle sometimes to partner with them and engage their minds with us before we ride.

I usually allow them to eat while grooming and give them some leeway there- but in tacking up I don’t want too much dancing or ear pinning while girthing etc and I insist we tighten slowly in between other movements (putting on a breast collar or adjusting stirrup length, checking feet or putting on boots, grabbing a water bottle etc…) so it’s not so harsh all at once.

When I bit I now insist they lower their head even a teeny bit and participate and I’m much more careful to not bop them in the face with my bridle and gently adjust their ears. Also I’ve lowered my bits so we have NO WRINKLES anymore. I never understood the common wisdom of the wrinkles and after hearing Buck say “That small amount of contact means something to my horse” I thought that makes so much more sense to me, I will try it. I think my horses are softer and happier with NO WRINKLES at their mouth. We certainly haven’t lost any control.

When we go to mount I prefer to use the stool- it’s easier on their backs and I want them to learn to come to me and stand so I can easily get on. We are never in such a hurry to get on the trail that we can’t take as long as we need to be sure the horse learns right where she needs to be for us and reward them with stillness and a rub first.

Once mounted STAND STILL until I say we can move. This is my current challenge with Khaleesi- she walks at least a step or two and then stops at which point she will stand still, but we’re forming a habit of a few steps first. I need to get off of her and start over when she does this but I’ve been lazy in it and just ask her to step back and stand- which she will do.

GOAL: work on getting on and NOT MOVING feet until I say it’s ok. Preferably on a day no one is waiting for me to hit the trail!

**Leading Dance: Forward all speeds and directions is great. We’re still working on the back up with me next to her (leading). At first I had to ask her with the lead every time. Now she’ll at least take one step on her own. I want more, as many steps as I want, so now that she’s begun to get the idea I am trying to get a couple steps. I sometimes forget to release her as she’s backing and I hold the lead too long during the process which isn’t as clear and might be a reason why this process has been slower than cleaning up the forward motion.

GOAL: release AS SOON as she’s started backing with me and see if she’ll continue with me before adding pressure again.

**Walking circles: The fundamental issue with my walking circles is starting and turning. She does not know what it means to send her off with my lead rope. Once we’re moving in a circle she’s pretty good. I need to grab a longer line to get some distance, but she’s not collapsing in so much and she “gets it” now and moves around me and stays out of my bubble after we’ve gotten going.

GOAL: work on sending her each direction away from me with my lead rope. As Buck says the lead rope ought to mean something to the horse – it’s not just a leash to keep her from walking off.

The dogs get really interested in what we’re doing. I liked this moment with Peggy Sue who had been following got ahead and turned to Khaleesi as if to wonder what we were trying to do.

**Forward Walk: We took a walking only trail ride with a local teenage horse girl and worked on JUST a little faster if she bogged down. Staying in front was helpful for this exercise because it wasn’t to keep up with the pack but just to move out. We sometimes had the big walk, and sometimes just a decent stride, but I never settled for the death plod and she only tried to trot out once- so she’s picking up a little speed for me and seems to understand. I have to remember to offer the “good deal” here as if she gets ploddy I start to assume she needs a kick to ask her to step it up. I assume a small squeeze won’t do the job- and if I don’t start with that it never will.

GOAL: continue to ask for better walk a few steps at a time. Always remember to squeeze with both legs just a touch before getting to a kick, and start insisting she keep up the pace longer each time.

**Basics & Manners: On our ride today she kicked at Faygo (for the first time in months). The first time I was taken aback and not ready so I had to lose the opportunity to bad timing. I wasn’t even sure that’s what happened and I had to ask Susan… did Khaleesi just kick Faygo?? At that point it was way too late.

Fortunately a few minutes later Faygo approached us again and I was ready when strike two came!

I immediately and calmly one-rein turned her and started working in tight circles then small figure 8s disconnecting her hind quarters and moving around in a small space. She eventually softened to the work and I knew we had succesfully communicated.

Susan asked me what I had done and why. I did a rough explanation at the time of making her work and move her feet, but in writing my blog (the main reason I do this) I thought it through more and realized that in choosing not to yell at her, or hit her in any way with my hand or my popper (all things I’ve heard of as ideas to correcting a kicker), I took control of her feet and I demanded she stop doing what she wanted (walk on toward home) and instead do what I wanted (go in small circles in one place on the trail). I continued this with her until it wasn’t a fight but until I felt her body soften and give to me and what this ended up doing was remind her that I was the one who makes these decisions when I’m riding her and she needs to “give” to me.

Kicking a horse on the trail is a manifestation of her taking control of a situation she wasn’t happy about (Faygo coming up to pass her). When she kicked she was asking a question:

Is it ok for me to kick Faygo for passing us when I want to be in front.

Unfortunately the first time it happened I said:

Yes, sure go ahead and kick Faygo.

I do not believe that 15 seconds after the fact me reacting would have had the same effect as when I did it immediately.

In some ways I loved the fact that me missing the first time did exactly what one should expect. The concept that you are always teaching your horse something in every interaction was never more vivid to me than that moment.

You have the choice- instill good habits, or instill not so good ones.

Every inch we give because we are not paying attention (like me today at kick 1) or because it’s just easier, will train the horse to invade space, not stand still when you mount, not pay attention when you need her to.

Conversely every tiny inch you ask for something to keep their attention or insist they stand quietly while you chat, fix your gloves or get off to adjust your saddle, or to back up while leading just for the heck of it, is an inch or more closer to your goal of having a horse who is a pleasure to spend time with, in tune to you, and most important: under control when you need it most.

Next step:

Fine Tuning: I’d like to start with some serpentines around trees in open woods to get her from having trail blinders and staying connected with me. Also to help me continue to get her legs operating as if they were mine. Keeping an independent seat and working around trees with my legs and eyes can really “up” our game.

GOAL: take an “alone day” to go up into the woods and instead of a true trail ride, spend an hour serpentining around trees in the woods!

Takeaways:

I’ve been thinking more and more about the concept of giving the horse a “good deal” first. Every time. Allow them the chance to take the good deal and if they don’t- do what it takes to get it done.

The “good deal” is the most gentle way of asking for something. Every time assume your horse will take the good deal- even if she never has yet.

We can get used to assuming our horse won’t do whatever it is without a big loud bossy command and we skip the good deal altogether. The horse might have made a mistake the day before- but the horse moves forward the next day as a new day. It becomes reaction instead of thoughtful. We should avoid saying “my horse always does xxxx” because we’ve put that behavior on them now and assumed they can’t learn and change. We’ve now blocked the process of growth for them and us.

I thought about this in life too. We can have difficult relationships and we “know how that person is” and we “know what we need to do” to get something done or work around them. We react instead of thoughtfully proceed. This is more likely at work or with a family member because you wouldn’t normally keep a friend around that was difficult to be around.

Shouldn’t we always hope the best and give people a chance to each day to take the “good deal” first- before we get bossy or loud or go around them? It may not always work- but it’s a better process to at least start with a quiet and gentle yet direct request than passive aggressive maneuverings, bossy words or a tough attitude.

I know in my life it’s a good reminder.

As for my horse- the teenage phase hasn’t been so bad lately. Probably I’m doing a better job communicating with her and I love that after we work she has softness in her eyes and her body and a calm that tells me we did good today.

We all learn more when we can lower the stress level- horses and humans both.

Hunting the feel

Friday, December 18, 2015

The soft feel is the goal that it seems everything is in service to. Being able to do as much as possible with as little as possible. The instinct of when exactly to release when your horse begins to try- not to wait until the entire physical motion has played out. It’s something you can only pick up with time doing it.

Buck calls it hunting the feel– you get a taste of it and it’s something you want more of… you can spend your whole life chasing it.

There are worse things to chase.

Today we went into the arena to work on getting to the point where you reach for your horse and your horse reaches for you.

Though honestly I’m not completely sure what that means!

Technically… I get it… kind of… but we’re not there.

Right from the field… the way I put the rope halter on starts our day now. She lowers her head into the halter for me and she’s offering the back up before I have to reach up when leading now- each time it’s better.

It’s the hight of mud season right now- both horses are a muddy matted mess. We did minimal cleaning this afternoon as it was getting late and cold fast.

First take away from our time today:

I need a more specific plan.

I had a vague plan, but I am a planner and I need to write down some goals before I go out. Right now I have a LOT of things I want to work on… so it’s not hard to find something to do- but it’s better to start a running list until I get more into a routine.

We began with walking around the arena on a loose rein (not a problem). Then I wanted to stop and see if I could ask her to give her head and release when she softened. This is “the feel”.

Not bad- but if we weren’t moving she gets distracted and wonders when I’m going to do something.

Slight pressure on the reins.

K: Do you mean back up?

J: Uh, not really… I want you to drop your head.

K: I want to see what the boys are doing in the barn…

J: No, keep your head forward.

K: Faygo is yelling for me- she’s stressed out over there.

J: Focus. You’re with me.

K: And back up?

J: No, just soften your neck.

K: So we’re just standing here?

J: Yes. Kind of.

K: Oh.

K: I can back up.

<sigh>

We then worked on keeping an active walk around the arena. I want to get that nice forward walk on our trail rides. My A-HAH moment was that the “beginning” of the try is JUST A LITTLE faster. So I can’t get that fast walk I want every time right now, but I CAN ask for just a little more activity that she was giving on her own. Eventually that should build until I can ask her for her move out walk without getting a trot instead. Someday.

I was pleased with my “just a little faster” walk. It went great. We did a couple nice circles too.

I also took a moment to remember the exercises I did with Nancy earlier in the day with the Sally Swift Centered Riding book. We had a great morning doing some floor exercises that really impacted awareness of body- and how tension and balance affect everything.

I felt grounded and balanced and comfortable. At least at the walk.

Then we stopped again and I wanted to ask her with my legs to move her front end around her hind. I was able to get her to do this as well using the same techniques I watched. I touched her with my foot slightly forward and after she realized I didn’t want her to go forward she did step around. I could easily get her to take a few steps in each direction pivoting on her hind.

When I came home and re-watched the same segment I saw that Buck didn’t actually even touch the horse with his foot. He just pushed his leg forward and hovered it near the front end.

Hovering.

I hadn’t picked that up the first time. That’s pretty light right there. Not actually touching. Hovering.

The last thing we did was some trotting around the outside rail. No problem asking for a trot- but she still pushes me inside (same thing she used to do at Pam’s). Maybe it’s me? Either way I had to ask her loudly to get back to the outside. Leg and rein. She did it, but she was pushing me in. My decision was that once I got one complete time around with her willingly staying out on the rail we’d finish for the day.

About the 3rd or 4th time around we got a nice clean run and I stopped, got off and rubbed her:

Good job. That’s it! We’re done.

I put her out and brought Faygo in to do a quick pony ride up and down the mountain with one of the farm horses (who need a little exercise). We had a nice ride in the first snow flurry I’ve ridden in this season.

This time we took Bo- a handsome horse that wasn’t gelded until he was in his teens. He’s a good horse, but needs a leader. I didn’t know how well he’d pony, but if any horse can give it a go at keeping him in line it’s Faygo. For the most part he did a great job. Once we turned home he tried to run ahead of us, see if he could turn his butt toward Faygo, he was too close in our space (walking so close he was touching us with his body!) and then out of frustration nipping at Faygo’s neck (which is too close to my leg!).

Enough- I stopped and asked him to step back. He did not.

He nosed his head toward my leg and braced.

I sat there on Faygo and bopped his rope halter to ask him to back up calmly and rhythmically.

For a long time (it felt like).

I watched for anything.

Finally a change in his body and his weight BARELY shifted.

I paused- then started again.

He stepped back!

Paused again and got one more step back.

Waited for a moment… the chance for it to sink in.

Then we walked off nicely. He stayed right at my elbow- a gentleman for the rest of the ride in.

I was getting cold as the sun was getting close to setting. I was reminded about one more Sally Swift thought.

My toes. (are cold!)

Are my toes loose?

Now they are.

Were they?

Not sure.

I spent some time thinking about wiggling my toes in my boots and feeling my ankle stay loose and flexible.

Was a good day of being aware, and we’ll be hunting the feel for a long time I think.

Update… small steps

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Training a horse is insulting to the horse. Don’t be a horse trainer- be a horseman. A horseman educates the horse without the horse ever knowing its being trained…. Training a horse is absolutely finite. If you get the horse to operate as to be your legs you have exceeded the notion of training. — Buck Brannaman

I’ve been visiting my horses lately even if I only have a few minutes to do a few back ups or circles. Something I love to see is that for the past couple months whenever I drive up to the barn, any time of day, the girls come from wherever they are in the field to the corner of the fence to look for me.

Yesterday when I came to feed and squeeze 15 minutes of groundwork before a morning meeting I was surprised to see Khaleesi waiting for me half way down the fence. Faygo had come over and Khaleesi was just standing back. I started to pour the feed into the pans and still she refused to come over.

Little miss independent?

When I opened the gate and Faygo came for breakfast and she still didn’t move closer I wondered if something might be wrong.

True enough she started pedaling her front feet up and down in place and then it made sense: she was caught.

I took my halter and lead over with me to her to find she had a high tensile wire from the top of the fence that had gotten pulled slack and caught somehow so that her front legs were wrapped loosely. Pretty impressive actually!

How did you possibly do this to yourself?

She had this top wire down around two of her legs

I have no idea how long she was caught there, but the ground had gone bare from some struggling. I was glad to see that she hadn’t panicked and hadn’t hurt herself either.

She seemed to get frustrated me as I put the halter on:

MOM! can’t you see I’m STUCK!? I can’t go with you!

I know girl- but I think whatever we need to do to get you free will work better if I can help you stay in control with your halter… just hold up ok?

Thankfully the one wire was pretty loose and I was able to step it down and walk her one leg at a time over the wire. I was relieved it was so easy and she was excited to be free but did lead nicely with me over to find breakfast.

Khaleesi eating breakfast after being freed from the fence.

I decided to forego the training- poor thing had been stuck in the fence, I doubted she would be in a mindset to work calmly. That would be setting us both up for failure. But I was so thankful I decided to run over there before my meeting that day!

Our dancing is improving albeit slowly. Our walking circles are getting more balanced and she isn’t falling to the inside as much as she did the first few times. I’m beginning to get her to start and turn around without quite so much crazy animation on my part.

I am really pleased with our leading. She is beginning to take at least one step back without me having to reach up and take her halter! Also she is moving out of my way if I walk into her space and following me in a circle the other direction. This small thing already feel so wonderful as she is paying a little more attention to me every time we do it. She stays just an eyelash behind my shoulder to be able to be ready for whatever move I might make.

Meanwhile (contrary to what my last post might have seemed to suggest) we are still riding.

Over the weekend Khaleesi started a new thing where she’d try to turn a half circle at random points along the trail to turn us toward home. No matter how strongly I did not give she still could turn her head- so in the end I changed approach and let her- only we kept going 360 so we were still going forward in the end. Tuesday she didn’t do this- nor did she try to pick up the pace to get home.

On Tuesday, not only were the girls waiting at the gate to come in and play, but they both led beautifully and we now use that leading from the field to get to their brains engaged to work with us.

Both girls are also getting better at sending on the trailer without us, and I was pleased to have them both walk on without any fuss without a human leading the way.

We did my all time favorite ride along the Jackson River Valley and I paid even more attention to what I was asking and how I released. Khaleesi likes to be a trail hog and not let another horse come up and ride next to us. We are getting better at me asking her to stay on her side of the trail even at a trot and she’ll step over pretty well. I paid close attention to how and when I asked with my leg, and as soon as she gave me some movement over I released the leg.

We are improving on minimal hands for communication as well. I am still working on an independent seat and using my body to communicate speed and direction as much as I can. If we have to make a choice on the trail I am careful to look exactly where I want to be and she has done well choosing that direction (around a gate, log, rock…). I noticed that I had to use very little rein for steering and that pleased me.

She also kept a very steady slow trot pace for a good amount of the ride no matter who got ahead or behind- we did a good job at finding a rhythm and holding to it on loose rein and no leg action.

Crossing Muddy Run at Hidden Valley with Nancy & Mireyah. This ride the two mares were really beginning to tolerate each other- almost in a friendly way. Such a big improvement over our rides in the Spring when at least one all out kicking match ensued (while we were riding them!)

One challenge I have is control over her walk.

She has a nice forward walk- I’ve felt it. However she also has a death plod that has very little use out on a trail ride. I do not have control over which walk she uses right now.

I can move her forward when she choses the death plod- but every time she chooses to trot up instead of animate her walk. My plan of action for this is I need to ask her with my legs for more energy, and when she choses the trot we stop or downward transition into the walk (which generally becomes the death plod again) and I ask again. This could take a lot of trying.

I noticed Buck via video footage encouraging people to realize what a first try looks like and to reward it. At one point a student in a group asked if she should release even if she just got one or two faster steps and he said “Of course- that is what it will look like at first.” So I will be trying to figure out how to reward a few good walk steps even if it’s not a sustained energetic walk. I do realize that is harder for her and she’ll have to work into it over some time.

A good thing to work in the arena or on a solo ride as if we fall too far behind in the process she is going to be set up to fail (no one likes to be left way behind) so then we have to trot to catch up once in a while.

Susan was on our ride and I have enjoyed introducing her to trail riding (and possibly endurance riding too!). She has a positive attitude, is an accomplished and fine rider, has a learning spirit and loves Faygo- who is teaching her tons each week.

Each ride Susan gleefully shares her “firsts” with us and I enjoy hearing them as we go…

My first time to ride in the woods… My first time on a gaited horse… My first time to cross a river… My first time to ride over 2 hours… My first time to open a gate on a horse… My first time to cross a bridge.. My first time (um, ok I promised not to share that one…)

Susan coming out of one of our deeper water crossings

Today we got “My first time to go that fast… well, that fast still under control!”

Then I got home to hear another Buck quote:

You do need to get a horse to where you can open him up and run. A horse is pretty incomplete if you can open him up and not have him loose his mind. You gotta practice dialing up and dialing back down again.

Nothing groundbreaking there, but something to think about- and we did it today.

There’s a beautiful hill that is a prefect spot to really run, and Faygo has an amazing “open up” gear. She is fast.

Developing Khaleesi’s canter has been fascinating to me. A year ago it felt funny, and she would twist out her back legs to get started and it was not very fast. Having never started a horse before I assumed that she just had a strange canter (too bad- I do like a nice canter sometimes). Over the year that canter has changed and improved and occasionally she would run up after Faygo as fast as she could and though she could never quite catch up, she was developing a nice canter.

Today I told Susan this was the one place she could feel safe giving Faygo as much room as she wanted- the footing was good and there’s a pipe gate at the top that would stop us even if somehow she felt out of control (though Faygo has not in my knowledge run away with anyone since Nancy worked on that with her years ago).

Susan and Faygo got going- but Khaleesi was ready for more and at the final stretch we passed Faygo and she might have hit what felt like her top speed. We only got to about 15MPH, and I can’t remember what her top speed was in the past, but she felt great and was balanced! (Susan had held Faygo back- this was the fastest she’d ever gone and she did a great job of staying in control and only as fast as she felt confident)

We walked around the pipe gate- heading home of course- and the girls both dialed back down the energy to a walk for a while.

Faygo can get so hot on her way home- one thing I may do more with her is trying to amp her up then dial her back to see if she can begin to control her own adrenaline level more. We saw some fun exercises that pushed the horse to sprint, then stop, back up 5 or 10 steps, then sprint, and sometimes just stand still in between. That will be a good Faygo routine this winter.

It’s boot season and in 13 miles we only had to stop twice to fix a boot for Faygo. One time we lost a boot in a deep mud suck coming out of the river- thankfully I watched it happen. The second time the boot twisted up onto her leg and we had to adjust. Not too bad all told. Khaleesi had all 4 stay on 100%!

This is a good week.

I haven’t seen any teenage tantrum flare ups (though I am sure they are not far beneath the surface) and we’ve had some nice small successes and good riding. Even our neighbor (who helped pull her back shoes on one of her worst days lately) saw us walking in yesterday and commented:

Boy, look at her… she’s such a different horse when you’re on her back!

And I said:

…not really, she just has her good moments and her not so good ones… like any young horse. She’s doing great today!

And then I thought… probably most of that difference is actually in me. She does her job really well: her job is to be a horse.

I have a long way to go to go from a “man” to a “horseman” and I hope I’ve made some more progress recently.

Epilogue:

My saddle should be en route soon, but I asked for some pictures of the tree this time because I love watching the progress, and this tree is very slightly different than her standard one. So though I am dying to ride in it, it’s at least fun for the moment to get to see some pictures as it’s developing.

I don’t want to ride anymore.

Sunday, December 13, 2015

I was inspired by a FaceBook thread recently to look for the Buck Branaman 7 clinics DVDs. I loved the documentary (Buck) and had considered picking up the 7 clinics set in the past, but they were expensive and I just never got around to it. I’m heading into winter (more training than conditioning) and my horse has begun to push her limits, so I did a little digging and found a used set very reasonably priced and decided to give them a try.

They are worth every penny in inspiration even if not one direct training tool surfaced.

I never saw Ray Hunt or Tom Dorrance. I think Monty Roberts is amazing (and I’ve learned a ton from him via video and books). They are all legends to me. But for me, seeing Buck Brannaman work a horse, ride a horse, or talk about horses connects with something deeply stitched into the fiber of my being.

It is not something I can explain here in words. Some who read this will know exactly what I’m talking about, some are less inspired by him but have others they prefer the style of, and some have never heard of Buck Brannaman (if that is you- please watch the documentary Buck, it’s not long and streams live on Netflix. It’s a story worth the viewing and beautifully done. You don’t have to care about horses to enjoy this film).

Watching the lightness and feel that he has with a horse is so inspirational it re-energizes me to get more serious about our training; makes me consider trying to get to the barn early on work days for just 30 minutes of groundwork. It makes me want to be better than I’ve ever thought I could be.

I watch all the groundwork discs and am inspired to hit the barn and start working on our walking circles. This is not lunging (which I don’t do) but asking the horse to walk in a circle around you while you also make a smaller circle inside always walking toward the shoulders. It doesn’t look that difficult (though I know better… everything is simple and nothing is easy!).

We can do this.

We are a mess.

Buck says it’s a dance. Everything with your horse is a dance. Watching him it always looks like a dance. He says you just have to learn to lead the dance, the horse will dance with you anywhere once you learn to lead it well.

I am a terrible dancer.

Really, in life I am- but also our walking circles were terrible. I know because I took video. I could go into all the reasons they were not good, but in the end I loved watching us try because I could see all the wrong things I was doing (lots to work on) and what I really loved was watching Khaleesi try to sort out what kind of dance this was and what I wanted her to do about it. She has such a generous spirit and must be entertained often with my human attempt to communicate to her. Occasionally she would just give up and try to eat some grass [Let me know when you figure out what you’re trying to say to me…]. I would wave the flag at her head and try to get her walking on again… she would walk right into me, I’d push her out.

I have this footage on youtube and am not going to post it here because it really is terrible! If you are inclined to want to see it drop me a note and maybe I’ll share the link…..

I am not discouraged because everyone starts somewhere. We have only one direction to go from here.

I went back a step and worked on our leading dance- something we could be more successful at. We have worked on it a lot already- she is not so good with backing up quickly when I do. We can work on that.

I loved the quote: Everything on the ground has relevance to what you do in the saddle. If you can’t lead a horse well what makes you think you can ride one?

I also took video of this. It wasn’t as embarrassing, but I noticed something I might not have before: she wasn’t always paying attention to me. One thing I picked up when going back to the clinic video is that Buck’s horse is more focused on him more often. Khaleesi is ok, she pays ‘enough’ attention to me to get the job basically done, but she can be distracted, look around, might even consider a bite of grass if it looks good.

In working with a young colt he did this thing where he demanded (for a short time) the colt just continue to pay attention- to look at him. It didn’t seem like a big deal, it wasn’t the point of the lesson, but when I saw Khaleesi from video I thought: she could pay more attention to me.

In Buck’s words: Because I’m important to him, not because he fears me.

How do you get that? To be THAT important to your horse? I would say I am important to my horse and I have some of her attention but not as much as I want.

…. maybe my horse has to become THAT important to me first?

This is where my thoughts have been rambling lately…..

Most people find where things are functional and “good enough” and they work there. I do that in many parts of my life. You have to because otherwise you wouldn’t function. You can’t get much done if everything has to be exceptional all the time. There isn’t enough time in the day. Good enough is relative- it depends on what you’re trying to do and what your needs are. Good enough can sound like a cop-out, but in reality it’s a positive thing most days. Hopefully what you do IS good enough for your needs and those around you.

For a horse there are many levels of “good enough” and different horse people have different expectations of their animals.

When I first started riding I wanted to see the woods. I wanted my horse to be good enough to enjoy riding safely even when the trails dissipated and I hacked my way through brush. I had a good trail horse. Maybe a great one. (I still have her of course). She was calm and safe and smart and kept her head about her in every situation I’ve put her in. To me it didn’t matter if she only lead “pretty good”. If she didn’t step on me, run me over, pull or drag too much and we could get to the barn- that was good enough. It was not worth taking time out of our riding in the woods (what I wanted to do) to play around with our leading game (booooring). We had some great times together exploring the woods.

Faygo is a good example actually. She is a fantastic horse, even a special horse. However the more I learn and see our relationship I realize that she takes pride in her “work” and she is well trained- she would take me anywhere I asked her to but we haven’t exactly been dancing together.

I love her dearly- and don’t get me wrong, I believe she likes me as much as a horse can like a human who straps dead animal hides to them and climbs on them for a day of hauling up and down mountains sometimes where there are no trails and occasionally briars to pick through. I even think she likes her job most of the time. I think we have a pretty good relationship. I don’t think she’s an unhappy horse at all, and her life is pretty good.

Unless she is having a ‘pissy pants’ day where she wants to run me home and is just ‘not into this’ (which we all have so I don’t hold it against her) she does what I ask her to do, but it feels more like good training than a dance. [I should also clarify that good training is huge- some people don’t even get to that point and it takes love and patience to train a horse] There is a very fine line somewhere between ‘well trained’ and ‘hooked on’ but if you look- if you are really watching, you can see it. When you do see it, it is life changing.

Stacy Westfall dances with her horse. She inspires me. If you haven’t seen what she and her mare Roxy would do bareback with no bridle it’s worth a watch.

One place I’ve seen this up close and in person was volunteering for the Old Dominion 1oo last June. I scribed for a vet (any green endurance riders out there… DO THIS, I can’t say enough how valuable that experience is). I saw a lot of horses come through but the one I will never forget was a mare (I believe she was rescued) that rode in the calvary class (when you ride the 100 mile but have to do it without any help or crew… or supplies really. This is truly hard-core.). She was ‘hooked on’ to her rider. He was important to her and you could see it. She was a beautiful confident mare who was soft in the eyes and body yet completely focused on him. She would ride with him to the end of the world and back because that’s where he was going- not just because it was her job. They were truly connected.

To me it seems like this: once a horse sees that you understand them, that you are listening to them and at least trying to learn their language there is a glass wall that begins to melt away in your relationship and the horse wants to be connected to you. That is how you become that important to the horse- you enter their world. Next comes how many levels you are able to melt away as each takes time, experience, dedication, feel and patience. This is the journey we are all on as horse people.

Once you are truly able to connect with your horse that they hook on to you, they submit willingly to you, Buck would say you then owe it to that horse to make them a winner every time. Never ask from the horse what she can’t give. Never allow them to get into trouble or a place they could fail. Build that horse up, make the horse a winner and the horse will make a winner out of you- never the other way around. The horse will go to any length to perform for you because your goals become their goals.

This level of feel and lightness is what inspires me. It goes beyond functional, but it’s what I want in my relationship with my horses. This is the true goal.

I think for the first time I’ve realized that I don’t have a hobby… I don’t have a horse… I don’t just want to get ride time in, I want to be that important to my horses. I have a passion for them. I want us to be that good someday. I want to be that good for them.

I am still clumsy, uncoordinated… My communication is often too loud- I forget to whisper first. My timing is not good enough, I am not tuned in enough to the subtle signals. I don’t always pay enough attention. I think of better solutions to problems while laying in bed the next morning (that is way too late!) I have a long way to go- maybe the rest of my life.

But one thing I know:

I don’t want to ride anymore.

I want to dance.

Back in the Saddle Again

Monday, December 7, 2015

After almost 3 weeks off Khaleesi is back to work. Now that it’s December the girls are all barefoot. Faygo has great hard hooves and doesn’t mind doing some barefoot riding. Khaleesi has decent hooves but is more tenderfooted barefoot than Faygo and I usually keep her booted- always front, often all 4 feet.

My teenager was very very good for the ferrier almost as if to prove me wrong when he came and I warned him that my angel is in the naughty teenage phase. He nodded, said that it happens to most of them, and walked around to each foot and quickly got her trimmed into shape as she stood perfectly for him.

Our first ride back was an easy 6 miles walk around Hidden Valley with friends which is one of my all-time favorite places to ride. Beautiful scenery, easy footing along the Jackson River and lots of options to choose from in terms of trails. All our front boots stayed on nicely and though some of the rough spots Khaleesi slowed down (and I let her) she did ok with no shoes on back feet for that ride.

I got back with plenty of time and enjoyed taking my time wrapping up with the girls and cleaning them off. By the time I’d finished, Khaleesi had her head against the bars sleeping away- she looks so cute and harmless that way!

The next day was sunny and I decided to make it a barn day and brought in the resident horses and gave them each a once over and feet cleaning just to check them out. I kept them up in the stalls for about an hour and took Khaleesi down into the arena to play.

This is our first time back in the ‘obstacle course’ arena and I set up some ground poles, a few posts to weave through, my platform is still there, and we have a couple jumps at the lowest height.

I thought it would be a fun change to play around in there and work on our energy and trotting in an enclosed space. We did “OK”. She did what I asked but I often had to ask more than once and occasionally with loud aids and we were not a seamless horse & rider team.

Success:

we made some amazing circles and she did it without any rein aid – just me looking where we were going!

she walked right up onto the platform and would stop there and back off for me like it was nothing.

Not so successful:

there was a corner she was avoiding and I had to (more than once) pull her head pretty hard with the rein to convince her we were going to stay near the fence there.

she didn’t like the ground poles and knocks them with her feet sometimes (at a walk!) she would avoid them and I’d have to pull her and push her over to walk over them.

HOWEVER…

Just being in that space again I was reminded how MUCH more control we have than we did one year ago when I could barely get her to turn, stop, go etc. It was interesting to get on her in there and that same space reminded me of how far we had come. Of course reflecting back on what we did for an hour I feel like we still have so far to go.

Sunday we went solo. It’s been a while since I’ve ridden her on the trails alone (what a blessing to have so many friends to ride with!). My plan on the warm afternoon was to get onto the “hack” trail I created this year and clean it up: make it wider and easier to find.Then to work on my “north trail” that I’ve now nicknamed the “Blackberry Trail” because it’s so full of briars there are sections that are really hard to get through. I brought my saw, my gloves and my clippers and we headed out. Slowly.

Great opportunity to work on her walking out nicely with no other horses. Just me and her. Going my speed. Occasionally it worked, but she dragged. I got off and started working on the new trail and I felt like we were playing the hokey pokey (you turn yourself around!) she is not the trail maintenance horse Faygo is yet!

Faygo will stand there (tied) or follow behind you (on the lead rope) depending on your need/choice and maybe find a leaf or two, but she stays with the program.

Khaleesi was in a desperate search for the right leaf to eat this time of year (there aren’t many) and if tied she’d often get wrapped around a tree… if I was holding the line she’d end up turned around on a teeny one track trail and I’d have to readjust her… I was cutting some of the laurel out of the trail and she’d even chew on the cut stumps- anything except just stand quietly!

Once I had her tied by some rare grass as I was trimming back the berry briars and being hard to find trees in that brushy area I had her tied a little lower that I’d have liked. She got the lead wrapped around her hoof and was getting tighter as she had her foot up confused. I knew that situation could go wrong quickly and dropped my tools and moved over to help her –

WHOA girl… just give me a second… picked up her foot (the rope was pretty tight now around it)… stay calm… can I just get it unlooped without having to untie it… hold on girl…

I was able to pull the lead off her leg without untying – and was glad to see her not panic though she was basically hogtied for a minute. It’s good to have small tests for her that then come out ok as learning experiences, hopefully will help in the future to avoid the blow up into a thrashing horse in a briar patch.

We got as much done as I could and it was getting dark. It’s getting dark so early now. So I bailed on the trail work and got on to go home. My pokey little pony was now jigging me back up the trail in a big rush. These sections of trail are not my favorite right now because they are so seldom traveled they are not so clear and not so clean. (In fact I would argue that maybe no one sees that section of woods if they aren’t there with me on a horse- it’s not easy to get to). I don’t love jigging through them in low light on a 5-yr old who has shown some teenage attitude of late and seems in an unpredictable phase.

I recently read an article on “making lemonade” when it comes to training issues.

For the barn sour horse- be glad you are getting a burst of energy! Use it to your advantage… maybe turn your horse around and back up that hill toward home!!

I entertained the idea… for a half second… then I got back to staying on her, riding two handed, centered as possible in my seat, heels down and asking her to just slow down a little… ok?

I’m not sure if it was the dusk, the fact that she hadn’t burned enough energy… the unfamiliar trails… but she was a handful and felt full of pent up energy ready to blow up if I frustrated her too much. She has never been like this on trail before. I sang, I talked to her, I kept my breathing easy and after one big jump spook coming back to our “home” familiar trail- I almost got off. Then thought:

I’m not any better down there with her all goofy on the ground. When her brain isn’t in gear she’s likely to run me over and apologize later.

So I stayed on and rode her in.

She would pull the reins, hop a bit, try to break into a canter… I thought again about my barn sour games for Faygo- weaving through trees, backing toward home and again decided it was going to be too big of a fight with this horse to try any of that at the time. Just keeping her at a walk (or walk speed trot!) was going to be my success- that and staying on her.

Eventually, the closer to home we got the more she seemed to get back into control, and our lemonade was the fact that as she seemed to collect her energy and I wouldn’t allow it to burst forth- her fast walk improved and her trot was super smooth to ride. Once we got back onto the farm she relaxed and walked in though it was just getting dark and everything she passed in the yard was a potential horse eating monster shadow.

I’ll call it a success, but it wasn’t fun- in fact it could have been the most unnerving ride home I’ve ever had on a horse. All the same, I wasn’t afraid either, and I wasn’t upset with her. It didn’t seem like she was fighting with me as much as she wasn’t thinking of me at all and only focused on getting back home- either barn sour, or the dusky woods were spooky to her I’m not sure.

I thought about how much better we could have done the day before in the training arena and decided that we need to spend at least a day in there each week to continue our bond and connection. If I can’t get her into a corner she doesn’t want to go into- how can I expect to have good control over her in the woods when she wants to run home?

We did three LD rides last season together!? Sometimes I wonder if I dreamed that! I wouldn’t have taken the horse I rode last night to an AERC ride. I would have said she’s not mentally ready yet.

When I did some google research on “teenage phase” in horses I found I was not alone. Here are some of the quote from blogs, Q&A posts and articles:

Every horse I’ve raised from a youngster goes through it coming into their 6th year… then by 7 or 8 they magically return to their normal selves again…

All the horses I’ve known go through it between their 5th and 6th years… they go from being more bossy and opinionated to full on tantrums depends on the horse!

Definitely! Both my mare and gelding went through it- they are finding their strength and are more reactive than normal, they become more jumpy and unpredictable.

My daughter’s mare growing up was great at 4 and then turned into an unpredictable and bossy horse that didn’t show well for a time. After she came through it she was better than ever, and my daughter had become an even better rider because of it as well. Their scores went up dramatically and the horse was one of her favorites for a long time.

Every horse I’ve trained has a period where they seem to rebel and go backward in their training, as long as it isn’t fear or pain related you can assume that time and patience will cure it out… after all your parents didn’t give up on you!

Many many sweet 4 year olds go through a big waking up stage around 5 or 6… it’s not a bad thing…

Khaleesi will turn 6 in March. I have a feeling we are going to have a long winter ahead of us.

When she is good, she is very very good…

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Not much to report during the human holiday season for team green. The equine team members had a nice Thanksgiving I assume in the field eating the still green grasses while the humans ate turkey and played in the traditional Stuffing Bowl XI just outside of Pittsburgh.

On a nice day over the weekend we had a non-agenda barn day and Nette came over to play. We groomed them up and got them squeaky clean. I worked a little more on Khaleesi’s bare feet to file out any jagged edges.

We played a little at some leading, standing, backing, and stepping over- both away and toward me. We did come to the mounting stool and I hopped on bareback to just get them both used to standing quietly.

We even drank some wine… why not?

I pulled up my first year results and though it’s not much I have accumulated 115 official Limited Distance miles this year!

Khaleesi’s leg seems to be staying the same at barely perceptible of a difference from the other. She’s now had just over 2 weeks off.

A neighbor brought a chiropractic vet to our area and asked if any of us would share the call. I thought it was a good opportunity to see how she’d done her first season and also get an expert opinion on her leg.

I was pleased that the vet found her to be a well built mare that “isn’t afraid of anything” and seemed a bit “opinionated” but also “very cute.” She had her pegged pretty quickly and thought her mix in genetics might well make a nice endurance horse.

Her body was in great shape after our first season and she found no back soreness or any out of place areas to adjust. She said her topline was particularly well developed and said that was most likely due to the dressage type riding help I told her we’d gotten to improve my riding over the summer.

I was particularly pleased that after Khaleesi had fidgeted through being worked on and the vet was answering my questions I asked her to step back a couple feet from me on a loose lead and she stood there for the entire time quietly while we talked. (very very good….)

She told me the fluid in the rear leg was a wind puff or wind gall and was not an issue to concern myself with too seriously. Something had stretched the tendon sheath a bit and that left room to have extra fluid- it is likely to stay that way and possibly come and go. She said there was no damage in the joint itself and if the swelling grew to back off a little, possibly wrap it to get it back down, and that icing after our events couldn’t hurt (I asked if we should be doing more after a ride with liniment or wrapping).

You see these things in horses in work. It’s not uncommon. It should not pose a problem for you going forward.

Meanwhile it seems like my good horsey is going through a teenager phase.

When she is bad she is awful!

She has been nipping her teeth in the air (in my general direction) on occasion when she doesn’t like something (usually grooming related) or lifting her leg as IF she might consider a kick if I want to work on a hoof she doesn’t like. When I took her out to release her (after a long day inside) today she reared up on her line and danced around when I tried to take her halter off.

Of course I don’t take her halter off while she’s being naughty. I make her stand quietly every single time before I’ll release her.

She hasn’t crossed a line into biting me or kicking at me, or running me over- but she is communicating things that suggest she might want to take over the power position in our relationship. Or at least that’s how I see it.

I sense she is a mare I need to be constantly vigilant of. She is strong willed and confident.

It is probably what I like most about her.

I do not believe I’ve allowed her to think I might become a pushover. I don’t think it’s cute for her to invade my space and I don’t allow her to gain an inch. I work her feet and correct every time she seems to get pushy or bossy with me.

After we have a conversation of me asking her to do some simple things and regaining connection she seems to relax into better behavior. As if her brain kicks back in and she remembers herself.

When she is good she is very very good but….

I have been reminding myself she is only a 5 yr old, and in her first year being ridden and handled barely longer than that. She isn’t a baby but she isn’t a solid 8 yr old either. She is still apt to to push limits, challenge me from time to time, and we are likely to find some gaps in her training and experience (especially since I’m responsible for all that- and I’m as green as she is in many ways).

Considering she’s doing so well overall sometimes it’s easy for me to forget she’s still 5- but she always reminds me if I forget too long!

So we have a clean bill of health… but still no saddle! If it doesn’t come soon I’m going to have to hit the trails bareback because I can’t not ride her for much longer.

And I think the girl has had enough vacation- she needs to put some of that excess energy into something productive!

Down Time

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Khaleesi is now on a full week of rest. It seems like a really long time to me. It’s been actually one week plus one day.

This is what Khaleesi’s rest break looks like… a lot of me riding Faygo!

She is now completely barefoot. The first missing shoe was that corroboration I felt (coincidence, depending on your worldview) the next shoe was my first experience in pulling a shoe that was never meant to come off without a professional (I did pretty well… with some help!) The last back two came off Sunday morning with a neighbor friend (D) who shoes his own horses and had the right tools and some experience (and a lot of patience).

We did it in the field and Khaleesi was good for the first back shoe- before she realized what we were doing. The last remaining shoe was another story. She decided she did NOT trust that guy and was not letting her near her white foot. She reared up on the line, pushed into me and acted like a monster.

I did not accept this behavior- but I’ve been doing my best to train her with calm energy and never to assume she’s “being bad”- but that this is something she is struggling with for whatever reason, and we will get through it. The bad behavior was not going to make us go away (until the job was done) but I have also made a commitment not to lose my temper in the process.

I backed her, called her in to me, worked her feet and then would put her back in place. It seemed like she knew it was wrong but she’d walk into me anyway to get away from D.

Repeat process. As many times as it takes.

My neighbor has lots of horse sense, I don’t believe he has bad horse energy- he’s not afraid or a high adrenaline kind of guy. Calm and matter of fact. Old school but also respectful. He was kind to keep patience with me for this favor. He would rub her on her front end and gave her time to accept him going back around to the foot. Worked slowly with her.

It’s cold today Jaime… they get all amped up when it’s cold… Maybe she’s not used to being worked on in the field… maybe she doesn’t trust me… there’s always one leg they don’t like- maybe that’s her leg…

It was nice he was looking for reasons. There was probably one somewhere- but I told him in the end it didn’t matter the reason.

Honestly I don’t really care.

The shoe is coming off, and we’re doing it in the field on the bad leg she doesn’t like when it’s cold. And she’ll have to learn she will also live through this.

Sometimes I think as humans we want to explain things and put too much energy into finding reasons for behavior (animal and human). Occasionally it helps because we can find a better angle to work through if we understand a problem. But sometimes that thinking can get in the way and put up road blocks instead of solutions. Often I believe letting go of the reasons helps open up the flow for the change in behavior.

He wondered if tying her to the post would be more effective? (It wasn’t – I was willing to try) Other options were leave the shoe and the work he already did to cut the nailheads would make it likely to come off on its own [I don’t like that one] or we could also basically hog-tie her to get it done. [Nope, we weren’t doing that either]

Gotta be smarter than the problem… wasn’t it Einstein that said imagination is more important than knowledge? We needed to outsmart the issue not force it. If this didn’t work the failure would be mine- not hers. She’s just a horse acting like a horse. Use that somehow.

I was curious- could I pick up and work with that back foot?

I asked D to hold her lead and I walked around her and picked up the “good” back foot, thumped the tools on it, set it down. No problem.

Walked around to the white foot. Picked it up, she pulled it in a little- but gave it to me. I grabbed the shoe tool and played with the shoe (it wasn’t ready to come off- he still had one nail really holding on) but she let me.

I don’t think you’re gonna be strong enough to pull that shoe Jaime…

I knew that, but I needed to see if it was the leg, the process, the tools or the person.

D (still holding the lead) came over and we traded- I took the lead, he took the foot. She stayed put. I walked slowly in front of her and he got to work.

How much is that dooggggy in the window….. the one with the waggin’ tail…….. how much is that doooooooogy in the window….. I sure hope that doggie’s for sale….

I sang that tune about 25 times. I don’t know where that song came from, but when I had my first puppy I’d sing that little song around the house to my little doggie (it was a rescue pit bull, so we didn’t buy her and she wasn’t in a pet store window, but it’s a catchy tune). It has become my go-to song when I don’t have more time to be creative.

[James Taylor songs tend to be the ones when I’m riding and not sure what my horse is going to do about something in our environment or they are acting squirrely. Fire and Rain is the standard there.]

I always sing when I may not be controlling my physiological stress response well. I don’t want my energy to make her worries worse- and that happens SO fast with a sensitive horse. The singing regulates my breathing and heart rate, and distracts us both.

I also gently grabbed a bit of skin on her shoulder- not hard, but if she began to dance while D was getting that shoe off- and had the potential to hurt him with nails and tools in a bad spot, I would have grabbed harder in hopes of distracting her brain from choosing badly to buy him enough time to finish or get out of the way.

I didn’t need to. She stood for the time he needed to finish clipping off a tough nail end and pulling off the shoe.

Success.

I rubbed her head and told her that was all we needed today and she was a good girl to let us finish. D rubbed her and told her she was a good horse and I untied her halter. She walked off, bucked around and danced for us to show us she was still a little wild and she was probably happy to be barefoot again- but she quickly calmed down and grazed next to us and I rubbed her neck.

Monty Roberts says you can see how your work is going with your horse by how they act when you release them in the field. If they run away from you right off it is not a good sign. Considering how she was uncomfortable with what we asked her to do just minutes earlier I was glad to see her stay close and relax around us as we picked up the tools and chatted a few more minutes there. I think that means we ended positive.

Her leg already felt much better before we started the shoe removal Sunday (almost one week of rest). D had felt her leg on a visit through the barn over a week ago when it was worse and he said now there was no sign of swelling. I still felt a small bit but maybe that’s because I’m looking for it.

I have some pictures to share of Khaleesi on pasture rest… As you can see they are of me riding Faygo who seems to enjoy being the chosen one again for a while.

Faygo and I on a visit to Pocahontas State Park with friends

With cold temperatures Faygo has been doing well. She still has a harder time breathing than other horses we are with, but she recovers better now. I love riding her and I love her personality. I took her to the Richmond area to have some easy quick riding with friends in the “flat-lands” Faygo’s specialty- no mountains to climb. She loves to go and go-go we did.

This week is Thanksgiving so they are both on a break now until I get back from some family time.

The more I am exposed to the endurance community the more I learn about horses, riding, and conditioning and the more I’ve been hearing about the importance of rest.

I also heard a podcast tip from an eventer who talked about how important it is for athletic horses to have time off. Not just physical rest, but mental rest as well. He suggested ideally 4-6 weeks between seasons for a horse in hard work.

Endurance folks also talk about young horses needing time for their tendons and skeletal structure to harden. She is 5 years old- but only really started in work this year. Thankfully she came from a life where she roamed hundreds of acres in a horse herd- so she had been developing some of that base before she came to me. I certainly don’t want her to be over-ridden early on to put us in danger of stress injuries too young in her career.

If you are interested in what others say on the subject- I enjoyed this article: Down Time for the Sport Horse. I have seen the cycle of time off turn a horse that was getting sour on too much work improve our time together.

There was a time I wouldn’t have gotten a second horse except that Faygo was just not going to be able to handle the workload physically much longer- now I am very glad to have two great horses to share my love for riding because Faygo is much happier not being ridden so hard so often, and Khaleesi really needs some breaks especially as she’s still young and developing physically AND mentally. I hope they both WANT to work for me for years to come. Sharing the load is a big component in that process.

I am certain I will not put Khaleesi out to pasture for 4-6 weeks (unless injury mandated), but I can say that this winter is our off season and we will be walking around the mountains at a slower pace in mud and snow for shorter rides and she will have many more days off than in good weather.

So as I close our latest blog: Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

In the spirit of the season I’ve thought about things I am thankful for and one big thing is you- my blog family! I am often touched and surprised to find how many people enjoy keeping up with our story and I love that our journey is fun for others to share.

Thank you for reading!

Faygo and Tex… enjoying a ride in the marshes in evening light

The Cycle

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

I haven’t written in a while because we’ve been doing a mainly light pleasure riding and nothing very exciting has been happening in the team green world.

We are waiting for the saddle to ship next month and whatever combination I use doesn’t seem to be all that bad but neither is it all that good (we’re getting dry spots and pressure points but they haven’t caused worse white patches or soreness).

I have a ton of work to do and it’s hunting season so we go out a couple days a week. One nice thing that’s happened this fall is I’ve had more people than usual come out to ride with me so each time I ride I’ve been able to get Faygo and Khaleesi together which is nice for all of us.

Julia’s first ever horse ride on Faygo the Fine

Ann enjoys her first gaited horse trail ride with us

Something that’s been gnawing at me however is inflammation in her left rear fetlock joint. About three weeks ago I noticed it was visibly swollen when I brought her in from the pasture. I did an epsom salt soak and walked and trotted her in hand- she was not visibly off. Didn’t ride her that day.

After a couple days the swelling diminished significantly. One day the other rear had swelling (compensation inflammation?) then it was back to just the left and it was not visible to me, but I could feel it. Different from the right hind, there was soft puffiness that felt like it could be fluid right above the fetlock on the back of the leg.

What to do? She is not lame… there is no heat…

Dr. Google gave the basic advice that if the horse isn’t lame or sore then it isn’t really a problem. There isn’t much to do for treatment if the horse is not lame.

Hmmmmm…. but…. there’s swelling….

Dr. Facebook (endurance green bean mentor page) said that if it’s equal in 2 or 4 legs (right and left) then it might be normal (cosmetic only). If one leg is different than the other it’s likely damage. Khaleesi is young (5 is still young- sometimes she’s so awesome I let myself forget she’s really only 5) and in her first year of work. Pay attention to it now lest it become a long term weakness in a tendon. Why not turn her out in her pasture for a couple weeks and see if it helps.

Not ride her. Um… isn’t there a better answer? I like to ride her. We still have shoes, the weather is still nice… Can I wrap it, soak it? Something other than rest it?

Beautiful ride on Sunday in Highland with friends

Dr. B, kind enough to discuss over email from afar says… well, he says a lot of things and was really helpful. Here are some of the highlights:

… major tendons pass over the back of the hock… diagnosing without seeing .. close to impossible… Even with a radiograph sometimes it’s not clear… fortunately the potentially ‘bad’ things are almost always associated with extreme lameness…

generally we try to be conservative in our recommendations… we say take 3 weeks off….. trainers start back in 3 days.

since she isn’t lame you’d like to move on as if nothing was wrong… but… there is swelling and 6-8 mile rides won’t do it any favors.

best to back off.

but you know your horse and see her every day- you are the best judge of how she is doing and the decision to ride or not to ride has to be up to you.

And my favorite:

The best way not to have problems with your horses is not to have horses!

Yeah… I have heard that before. Probably from my husband.

Tim a little more comfortable than most around my girls

Just yesterday I was reading my monthly Endurance News and there was a fantastic article about the cycle of “Training-Conditioning-Performing”.

It went into how the cycle works and how important it is to recognize training as the mental component of what a horse needs to do in order to be ready to perform: walk on uneven trails, be ok around other horses on trail, allow a vet to handle them, be able to camp in a new place, etc.

Then there is the conditioning which relates to training (these overlap) but conditioning is the physical capability of your horse to go the distance: aerobic, skeletal and muscular etc. These have to come before good performance which is what happens event day.

We all go through this cycle over and over and if you realize where you are in the cycle you will be more successful- also realizing when you don’t have good performance where your weakness lies. Did you get pulled because of lack of training? (your horse couldn’t be held back to a speed it could sustain and wore out too early in the ride?) or lack of conditioning? (not in shape to do the miles?). Then you go back through the cycle and increase performance with better training and better conditioning.

Ideally you begin the cycle with a sound horse who is reasonably built to do endurance. But on page two of the article the author added two new red boxes to the cycle that are inevitable for every performance horse at some point: “Injury-Rehabilitation”.

I love my Endurance News and always find a timely article in there I can use or relate to.

It appears we have now entered the pasture rest (rehabilitation) box.

Thankfully that doesn’t mean our training has to stop. This is a good time to continue to bring her in and work more on standing still and coming to my mounting stool better… maybe sending on the trailer (she gets on but I usually have to walk her up, would be fun to work on sending her on). There are plenty of things we can do together to continue our bond and increase her training while not riding.

Always find the opportunity.

Considering I don’t have my saddle yet, it’s hunting season, and life is busy, this is the best time I could hope for to put her out of rotation and see what happens. I’ve been avoiding it because I so love to ride her, but time to face the fact that this is what’s best for her even if it’s not what I want to do.

When I asked Dr. B about a vet visit (seems too soon to me) he agreed probably not necessary right now. We’ll give it a rest and go from there.

I can still enjoy the season with my fine Faygo. She’s developed quite a fan club this fall- I hate to disappoint her friends, but I’ll be riding her for a while myself now! Her dance card will be full for a few weeks.

Later this morning… Confirmation…

I arrived at the barn to check on my ‘invalid’ to find she had pulled a front shoe. I take it as a sign- her rest period truly is meant to be.

My farrier postponed his visit (that would have been this week) at my request as I’d planned a ride with friends in the Richmond area this weekend and wanted my shoes just long enough to get through that. My farrier told me that shouldn’t be a problem to just keep an eye for loose nails.

Since she’d lost one, the most sensible thing for a DIY horse owner was obviously grab the farrier kit and take off the other front.

If she’s going to be on rest, I’d rather her also be barefoot for the rest of the winter… starting now! I mean- he showed me how to remove a shoe in case I needed to. What better time to try?

Well… I have always loved my farrier, but I really love him now. It took me at least 3o minutes, two trips back to the barn for additional tools, and some help from a friend to get that shoe off!

Meanwhile Khaleesi was amazing. She stood still for me the whole process and tied to the fence (I hadn’t planned to bring them in today). She never tried to pull her hoof or fight me. She was a great patient.

I will leave the back two on for now….

PS…

Monday, November 9, 2015

(this was added to Indian Summer, but after I’d posted it so those who subscribe missed it…)

I had a visit yesterday from Susan who also works in my building at Washington & Lee (I teach violin and chamber music there). We had a chat on Wednesday that ended with us learning we both ride- she was intrigued about endurance riding (she hunts & does eventing and has never really gone on a trail ride in the mountains) so I invited her up Sunday. She is a really nice rider who enjoyed Faygo and what fun to introduce someone to the beauty of trail riding!

She had never crossed a river before (we did that twice- not including all the small streams we pass). Khaleesi and I opened almost all the gates and closed them without dismounting and she was quite impressed. We went off trail for a segment that I prefer where the trail is steep and often washed out and rode through the open woods “obstacle course.” We rode the horses through two sets of cows each having young bulls romping about without incident. We took the dogs along too (of course!). She thought the woods and trails were beautiful and said she’d never done anything like it before and fell in love. She promised to come back anytime she could!

I went back to my paragon saddle (the english style gaited trail saddle that works pretty well for her, but is harder for me to post balanced in). It was also a cooler morning. Khaleesi was much more back to herself and though the girls meandered a bit in the first mile they picked up their game and we did mostly trot/gait canter through the ride. She was comfortable at any pace even though Faygo’s saddle stirrups don’t have enough holes for shorter legs (her feet would come out when we cantered!). I actually fixed that by adding a hole when we got back in hopes she will return soon!

As for the saddle, the paragon left a few dry spots still, but I’m going to try a better pad and see if it helps. So far no soreness has developed and she seemed to move better in it. Now that I’m getting more confident in my riding I seem to do a little better in it than I did earlier in the season. I think it’s going to work as I need it to until the Phoenix arrives next month.

And for the last bit of exciting news… Team Green has officially moved into our new barn!

It’s not a big move as we spent last winter here, and have been squatting there since late summer. Most of the pictures of us around the barn, or in the field are taken from here. It is just next door to our old place and belongs to a good friend who I ride with whenever she’s here. Now we’ve made it official and are very happy in our new digs- we have our own room and love the space. It’s a beautiful barn, well equipped with anything you would need. The girls are happy there and have a run in shed and really nice field. The barn is large and provides indoor space for vet and farrier visits especially important for the cold seasons when there is inclement weather. We are grateful to call it our home base!