when on the mend

As I talked about in my recent posts, we have been addressing recent feet issues in this dry heat. In addition to that, we have had some extreme temps putting us in a heat advisory restricting actual riding capabilities...

so we graze and hang out...

So take a really fit thoroughbred, red head mare...give her roughly two rides over a week...mix it together and you get a monster. Yep, legit. 

Seriously though, she isn't nearly as bad as she used to be...but the fire breathing dragon version of Tillie has re-visited us even in this heat and I have to say, I really didn't miss it. Ok maybe a little part of me is happy to know it still exists (meaning Tillie still has the feisty tendencies and is feeling good), but I am quite happy not experiencing the rearing, bolting and all four legs coming off the ground. 

Trail ride on Friday

Friday was my first ride back on her since getting her feet redone and she was still slightly ouchy occasionally on her left front so we took to the woods and trails for a hack. Miss sassy pants walked with such a HUGE marching and swinging walk my abs were on fire about 15 minutes in...I couldnt reprimand her though since she was keeping it to four beats (barely), but fine. I get it. Mare had some time off and is fit so has some willies to get out. 

Like spooking at this long...

Or spooking at absolutely nothing here

going so fast in the walk its blurry!

Spooking and getting excited at seeing open space

Look VERY hard for her friends

getting confused because she cant see them

In all seriousness though, she was ok for this ride...just forward in the walk which isnt a bad thing. With my recent concerns of her being tired, Im pleased she feels good! Just wish we could rein it back in a bit. 

And the spookiness??!? Who knows...she isnt typically that flighty. She can be when she is in heat, but I guess with her being all energetic and jazzed up it comes with the territory.

Does anyone else find their own horses get spooky after a few days off?

Quite pleased with herself after

So knowing she felt good enough to walk that well and jig at times...she felt sound enough to try trotting her around in our ring which, with the soft footing, she felt great. So I planned to come early saturday to try to beat the heat to put in an actual dressage ride.

Gunner says noooo dont leave me!!

I get on and start warming her up. She felt much better then my previous disaster of a lesson but still a bit guarded. She felt more like the horse I have been used to though...that is until after we warmed up and I started asking for harder things. 

I asked the mare to sprial in on a circle tracking right and she fell in with her right shoulder and barrel so I took a half lap using leg to ask her to pick it up. Nope, she just braced on me and on the inside rein. I then added just a touch of spur and suppling and all hell broke loose. 

She basically spun out away from the spur and lifted her shoulders in protest. Well ok then...I knew I had to basically work her here until we got an appropriate response which we started over but the minute I asked for the spiral in, she anticipated spur and did the same thing and I closed the outside leg to eliminate the spin and lack of forward...welp mare thought rearing and going backwards was appropriate. 

But I is so cute!

I took a breath, threw out my dressage whip in case that was causing some of the melt down and decided ok lets just trot like a normal horse larger and take it slower. She was tense and balled up and really wanted to build. I chose to use sitting trot and my seat to help package and would say slow and go to reward her when she behaved. She did this well for about 3/4 of a large lap until I released my half halting seat aids on one and she literally BOLTED full speed. 

**head desk** Can you say overly excited?! After a discussion at this point which resulted in back humped and jumping all four feet off the ground in response though she let out a sigh and we put in some solid work W/T/C and some practice with shoulder-in and I called it a day. 

Unfortunately Sunday she got herself a day off and yesterday due to my own physical issues (shoulder pain) but I enlisted a dear friend to hop on her this morning in the hopes she wont be so crazy for our dressage lesson this evening. 

Here is hoping she can calm the fuck down soon!  

Biding Time until winter is over....so we dressage

So far we have been pretty lucky with winter...its been fairly warm and mild until the biggest snow fall in the history of our state's snow fall happened (and I am not exaggerating...it really was the largest recorded snow fall in the history of my state).

Sooo much snow...and this is from a few weeks later!!!

The snow fall was enough to put me over the edge...because it means not being able to ride unless I haul out and my job has been limiting that happening since no one wants a stranger in their barn later then 8pm. So anyway, I havent been riding nearly as much as Id like to and its sad. Very sad.

BUT once in a while I can haul somewhere and shockingly Tillie has been pretty behaved and, better yet, ready to work with a nice work ethic.

Is it me or does she look eeevvvvilll here?

Without boring you all too much longer on the intro, I scheduled a dressage lesson with C and finally got the opportunity to try hauling with my trailer with the partition open to see if Tillie's scrambling around turns would be better, worse or the same. 

Luckily all of our self loading practice came into to great use here since with keeping the divider open means no butt bar. I did minimally put up a lead rope but if Tillie realllly wanted to run backwards out of the trailer she could break it easily...but shes really good about waiting for me to ask her to back out.

Night hauling makes taking pictures harder :(

Tillie didnt scramble AT ALL...and majority of the time did keep herself fairly straight, but around turns you could see her swing her butt and angle herself. So I think I need to get myself a wider trailer and haul like this in the meantime...

Lesson Time: (sadly had no one their to take pics or videos)
I get on and just start going through the normal motions of loose rein walk around the whole indoor both directions a few times while waiting for C to finish another lesson. Tillie was quiet, had a bit of a speed walk going on, but not terribly looky like she can be. 

I start picking her up in the walk a bit to test her mood and see how much resistance Id be dealing with once C was ready...and Tillie was quite pleasant and even with a longer rein moved right into contact without missing a beat. Typically even after warming up walk trot canter, going from a loose rein to contact isnt as smooth as this! 

Once C started with our lesson we moved into a trot fairly quickly and her first transition was quite nice and she stayed connected without going inverted. Another Win! We treadmilled it at the trot a bit just to let her warm up...and C thought she looked off right front so we did a few changes of posting diagonals and changing direction see if it was worse on turns or a certain direction....but luckily it went away and Tillie seemed not bothered at all so we pressed on. 

C right away when I trotted again said "no bigger trot then this" which was interesting because I felt like we werent covering enough ground....I attribute this to me getting more comfortable riding her trot now and not always trying or needing to slow things down. 

Can winter and the early darkness be over yet?!

Tillie was pretty consistent in the trot and we worked on getting more inside bend both directions...for this ride, her right bend was much harder. My inside rein would end up touching her neck which C pointed out there should be a clear gap and the inside hand should be open and away...so more inside leg to push her away. But do not lose the outside elbow (I tend to straighten it out too much). 

Leg yielding 

Moving on from that we went into riding down the quarter line and leg yielding, but this time rather then using the entire length of the long side of the arena, C wanted us doing them pretty quickly without leading with the shoulder and focusing on a straightness. Tracking left she nailed every one, tracking right we had a few at first where she really didnt want her booty to stay in line, but a tad more inside leg and outside rein fixed it pretty easily. 

Tillie eating ALL the hay

Tear drop exercise
Then C had us ride tear drop formations (trot and at E make a 10M circle and trot a straight diagonal line between H and F and ask to change the bend). Once I got the hang of the actual figure Tillie rode through this exercise REALLY nicely. C remarked she was impressed!

We took a bit of a walk break and chatted about the upcoming dressage show and discussed strategies...when I started to pick Tillie back up again I reminded myself shorter reins and really felt I found that sweet spot (you know when your seat feels solid, your rein length feels right and the stars align?). Tillie on the other hand didnt appreciate the shorter reins and despite another lovely trot transition and half circle started "whip nae nae-ing" with her head when I applied inside leg (tracking left).

She did it a few times when trying to re-establish bend and I wasnt letting the reins out...C recommended I verbally reprimand her for this....that a physical squeeze or crop for her would be too much but I need to at least tell her NO.

I will admit, I felt like the contact in my reins was heavier then I like (I tend to waiver it seems or say this after not riding for a period of time). I never dislike when this happens...just seem to notice it and feel like its not "soft" enough contact which is false. She is soft...just not behind the contact like she used to be more often a few months ago. I think I just need to re-calibrate my feel...

UMMM...wheres my food?

So we treadmilled a bit at the trot again to let her get those out and C said ok, canter NOW! OK it wasnt quite that abrupt, lol, but it felt sort of sudden...as I wasnt really expecting to move into canter so quickly in the lesson. We sometimes only get to it briefly!

Test riding - being smart about placement of transitions

C did set me up for it talking about the strategy of riding in the test and prep for the transition depending on the horse I had that day. If Tillie was more up to ask earlier to use the corner or turn to back her off, if she was going well ask a bit more in the middle of the corner to present the long side of the ring to promote her opening her stride. 

Canter

So we started on left lead and it took a few steps at first, but she did a nice little jump into it I sort of didnt expect. She felt a bit unbalance on it again so I do a poor job being soft in my arms when this happens...but C talked me through it, we achieved inside bend and she felt a bit smoother once that was better. Her downward transition was a bit strung out and as we changed directions on the short diagonal Tillie was a bit fired up and ready to jumping into right lead canter which I promptly did a strong half halt which C agreed with. It sort of took away the rhythm but it was needed...and we regained a nice balanced trot tracking right within a half circle. 

I so good!

We went right into right lead canter once we passed C and it took a half the circle to get the inside bend, but once we did C even said it was a nice canter. She urged me to step more into my right leg so I dont fall to the outside (which would push tillie in and not be able to bend in). Her downward transition to trot this direction was really lovely. 

Center line - test riding

After this, C had us run through a few center line practices again really concentrating on no drifting...especially when you continue the trot on and turn at C. She said most horse and riders will drift before reaching C and to wait as long as possible to make the turn - for example if youre turning left, you start drifting right when over prepping for the turn. 

C said Tillies weight and muscling is looking good! 

Riding Novice A

Once we got the strategy for the center lines down we moved on to riding through a test. I chose to run through Novice A with C since that's the most difficult test I signed up to do for the dressage show. I am debating now on changing that after this ride and talking with Emma...but we will see how the next week goes if I change. I am currently signed up for BN A and B and Novice A. 

C called out the test as I was riding it and for the most part it rode pretty well. USEF tests tend to be harder for us since there is so much ability to build up in the trot and canter...USDF tests are nice since there is a lot more changing directions, circling, transitions etc to distract Tillie.

Her transitions out of canter to trot were a bit rocky...but C said if I plan them accurately the judge shouldnt be able to see it too much. Her right lead canter transition I planned perfectly and C said we would work on the left lead too next time, but both leads she stepped right into without needing a few steps, I just need to time the transition better and stop anticipating the build up so much.

Nicely trimmed tail :)

Her free walk we talked about her wanting to dive when she stretches...like throw her head down and pull the reins from me rudely. She has a habit of doing this when doing anything stretchy or even when letting her walk on a loose rein. C suggested I dont ever let her go around on a completely contact free rein until she breaks this habit and earns the privilege back. When she goes to root give her a boot or slap with my leg. No pulling of the reins, just a bump using leg. 

Aside from those C was really complimentary and said we definitely earned the award for most improved. :) Its really nice to hear!!! 

I seee you barn cat

When you get sucked into your horse's antics

I was quite excited yesterday to be able to make it out for a ride at a decent ride after work. Despite the cold weather, which literally happened overnight, I was ready to get into our training regime and work on some homework. Not to mention, I was eager to try the new footing for myself!

I dont have any new photos to share unfortunately, so Ill just share some old ones for fun! 

Tillie was fairly nice about getting tacked up...she hasnt been lately with her soreness and ulcer issues, but shockingly she wasnt really back sore at all! Still girthy but her ulcer meds should be here hopefully soon. We did some carrot stretches (with left over candy canes!) and got a few pops out from her neck. Today it was only stretching to the right we got them...most days its both sides.

Anyway, we marched down to the ring with purpose to join fellow blogger Emma and another barnmate on her greenie. Knowing Tillie hates the cold, I planned to let her walk and trot around for a bit on a looser rein until she settled in. I made a mental note to bring my quarter sheet and BOT back pad as well (I dont spoil her or anything).

This was my first ride on our new footing and couldnt wait to see if I felt a difference.

New footing!!! 

It was a bit crunchy and starting to want to freeze, but I was really impressed that it still felt nice and bouncy and forgiving...the sand would have been as a hard as a rock. There is some deeper areas that provided some challenges later in our ride, but Ill touch on that later.

Starting out in the walk, Tillie really wanted to be quick...I tried not to fuss at all too much and decided to let it happen with it being so cold and just use circles and changing direction to monitor that. Pushing into trot she felt a bit tense through her body and was hesitant to turn off my outside aids, but she eventually gave in and started maintaining a nice rhythm.

After working on both sides I started putting her together in walk and established inside bend off my inside leg aids and thought about "catching" her with the outside. I took the opportunity to try to work on my own evenness as well. She worked well at the walk and while she wasnt totally relaxed as I would like, decided it didnt want to dwell too much.

Is this relaxed enough for you?

Pushing into trot we worked through the normal conversations and did some random figures and changing rein so she couldnt anticipate and started working into the forward and slower trot homework from our last dressage lesson. This all went quite swimmingly and she began to relax and offer to stretch when I allowed.

I decided it was time to ask for canter. Knowing it was the first canter of the ride tried to keep my expectations light and my own riding out of her way to let her warm up here. I got in pseudo half seat so my bottom lightly touched the saddle, put my hands forward and let her right lead canter just happen. I kept her on the 20 M circle for this. She offered a trot transition and I allowed so we changed the rein to do left lead and it started off just as nicely.....

I swear there is a nice canter in there some days.

...Until she went into the deeper footing in the corner. Her response was to brace and race. I did my best not to grab and put her on a smaller circle and let that do the work of suppling for me but Tillie has caught on to this trick and decided steering wasnt for her.

After a good 2-3 circles of establishing that NO TILLIE you MUST steer when there are this many horses in the ring, we came to trot and I prepared to try again. Well coming down to trot she reverted back to her greener days of holding her head and neck in the "im pretty and doing this whole on the bit thing" that is fake and there is NO contact there at all...but it looks like Im pulling on her because im trying to find some resemblance of weight in my reins.

Once I had at least something to work with, I tried for canter again to work on getting one that was more level headed. Once again it all was fine...until she caught site of the straight away and decided why not brace and head that way and build into a hand gallop...that sounds fun. NOT.

I had to use a one rein stop and kick the snot out of her with my outside aids since that is what she chose to ignore and after some protesting she came down to a walk. Took a minute here to reestablish contact and had to go back into trot work for a while since she wanted to do this choppy jiggy trot behind the contact and be cheeky with me like "Ohhh see I can go slow"

She produced some lovely trot work here after a few laps and was quite supple either direction, even left bend!

I knew I had to canter again though and get a quiet, SOFT canter before I called it quits so I started randomly asking for trot, canter trot and canter on a circle for a bit and back to trot.

She shockingly didnt get too expectant to canter but I just felt like we were out of sync. We werent clicking and I felt like transitions were full on in the 2 score range complete with giraffe mode and inverting.

can we go back to this night when we could canter outside of a circle without losing our brain?!

A few times in the ride, my trainer D's voice came into my head probably because Tillie has acted this way more in his lessons then with anyone else...but all I could hear was "nothings changed in a while, you need to do something to get a bigger response here..."

When walking her out to cool down she was still quite speedy...but at that point I didnt want to mess at all anymore or have any more arguments. I realized I got sucked into her antics already this ride and I felt really disappointed with myself. I have been really good lately about not getting so rattled, but this is the first ride in a long time it got to me.

I dont want to lose this magic!

I guess these rides are bound to happen...but I instantly feel helpless and like I shouldnt be riding unless in a lesson setting. I crave a dressage lesson so bad it puts me off wanting to ride again until I get one which is ridiculous. It doesnt help my last ride in the smaller ring wasnt particularly splendid either...even though that one I didnt get rattled as much it sorta caught up to me here.

Logically I can talk myself off the ledge, but emotionally I succumb to all the negativity. I realized by the time I got home, I have only been in 1 actual P lesson in a month between holidays and Tillie's shoe...and realized SHE has been the reason Ive had confidence and the cool calm go with the flow mentality lately.

I was contemplating missing this weekend to attend a local show, but I think after this ride it is apparent I need to make a visit with DR. P as I am calling her now.

Happy Holidays!

I am a bit late in posting, but I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

I was in a flurry of prepping and cooking so havent been able to post as much...

Presents all wrapped! 

I went all our as usual cooking since I come from a big polish family so Christmas eve dinner is a kind of a big deal.

About 3/4 through the cheese in this picture...soooo much cheese! 

cheese sauce for mac n cheese and gouda bacon mashed potatoes 

Hand making the perogies 

So back on to horsey things...

I did manage to sneak in a ride Christmas eve and boy was it wet out and muggy. I was really hoping to be able to hack out or do a trail ride but the non-stop rain we have had prevented us from going. I didnt want to take my horse out in slippery treacherous footing when she freaks out when she slips anyway. 

 Poor Tillie got herself all out of break walking up the hill out of the pasture. She was sweating before I even got on. It sorta freaked me out and I kept asking people if there horses were doing the same thing. I contemplated not even getting on, but some barn mates encouraged me to just see how things went.

Tillies favorite thing about this day, her little window.

I get on and she instantly feels tight through her back and body. Being my second ride in on the double reins, I still tried to keep the curb looser and encourage more stretch, BUT I guess with all the rain and standing around, she was a bit eager so my warm up plans of stretching had to evolve a bit.

Still looks like a lot of reins to me!

I focused on just getting her moving, not quickly, but moving to settle in. She was a bit bracey especially to the left but settled in ok. Once I asked for canter though she was just not having any parts of being supple. When I would close my leg to ask, out came the old Tillie I know and love complete with the head tossing and shoulder throwing hissy fit. 

WHAT?! Me...? Never! 

I worked her through these episodes just to make a point but also chose to listen a bit and stick to trot work and not push it too much with how hot it was. Who would have thought it was possible to SPONGE  a horse off in DECEMBER in MD!?

Upon dismounting, my anxieties were in high alert once again when Tillie's back muscles were fully going into spasms. I never have seen that before and in my mind was flipping out going through all the things it could be from tying up to some weird muscle disorder...rather then the more logical thought of oh hey shes just sore. **roll eyes**

I also have to remember shes a bit of a diva, so her reaction to the back soreness may also be REALLY not stoic and a bit more then normal. It didnt help when I put absorbine gel on it, she herself hated the sensation of it and tried to lay down and roll it off. 

I did my best to listen to Emma and miseventer who were there and go with the fact shes been in harder work lately and its no different then when we are a bit sore.