Snowed On

A three day weekend approaches. Can't wait. Two days ago, it was looking promising that I would be able to go few miles down the road (as much as I hate road riding)with Maggie. Last night, we got 2 inches and it's cold. It is supposed to warm up to 40 degrees today. That's fantastic news. That means that it will all melt off today, freeze tonight, and make the roads an ice skating rink most of the weekend. Fabulous. Guess it's back to the arena if I want to get any ride time in this weekend.

I really envy all of you that live in places that have access to reasonable footing for riding this time of year,. It's not the cold I fight, I can bundle up well enough to ride for a couple hours and withstand it, it's the darn footing.

Minimalist Shoes and Staying Injury Free

I am sitting here at work , in a mid afternoon funk, reading a few headlines.I just read Funders post here. She opens up the post about her attempts at running barefoot and all the trouble she experienced.The post is worth the read and for the heck of it, here's my barefoot drama story.

I have also had a stint with the barefoot or actually to be more accurate , minimalist running.
3 years ago I started changing my entire way of looking at food. I was having a lot of migraine, skin and gastro intestinal issues. So I started reading and researching. I decided to start cutting out a few things. It was a lengthy process involving many tweaks over the course of many months . With each change I made, I felt a little better, saw a little improvement. Even the husband , who at the time would see a broccoli crown and run screaming, started noticing some improvements with how he was feeling. It was a complete shift in how we looked at food. Today, I am quickly emerging from a Primal way of eating into almost Paleo. Giving up dairy is my current roadblock but I am getting there. Again, gradual change.
Somewhere in the the middle of all this,it naturally led me down a path where I started looking at my exercise routine a little closer because it wasn’t working for me. I was going to the gym doing the elliptical /treadmill routine for an hour 5 times a week , with a few weights thrown in for good measure. I hated it. I hated fighting for machines, I hated being on the machines and I hated the gym scene. We decided to give up our gym membership and set up an at home gym. We bought a popular workout video series known as P90X. We spent a winter doing that, together. We helped motivate each other. It was hard, one of the hardest things I had ever done. “Push-ups, Pull- ups, are you kidding me? I can’t do that” , that is what I was thinking when I first started previewing those videos in the early days. But I tried, and I kept on trying, kept on coming back to it. After 3 consecutive rounds of the program, I was doing it. I was ripping off 25-30 REAL pushups with CORRECT form, I was doing pulls up with only a little assist. Granted, I still modified certain things, but I was doing it. I felt great. Then, we incorporated some other interval training programs . That presented a whole different type of challenge but once again, I reaped the benefits. I was durable, and felt stronger than ever.

Pretty soon, I started thinking about getting into running, something I have always wanted to do but never really could seem to do. Last summer, my husband bought me a pair of the Merrell Minimalist shoes. He showed me a few videos and I read the book “Born to Run”. I am the worst heel striker even at a walk that you may have ever met . I come by it honestly all the way back to my great grandmother, grandmother, father, and then me…I pound my heels when I walk. Its horrible but I can’t seem to help it.
Being able to run a 5K has been one of those “life “ goals that I have never been able to attain. I would always go for long walks, and try to run, but I would always end up with shin splints and foot pain from an old injury that would become unbearable so I always gave up. When I got the barefoot shoes, I was optimistic. I started wearing them around the house for short stints, and pretty soon took a couple of walks in them. They felt pretty good. A little soreness but nothing too out of control. I paid attention to how I was walking and focused on not landing heel first. 36 years of walking on your heels does not just go way!! After a few weeks of wearing these shoes, I thought it was time to try out the new kicks at speed. So I set out to go for a jog in them.
Let me tell you, it was an eye opening experience. It started out great, I felt totally liberated. Whenever I had tried to run over the years, it always felt like I would be dragging myself out of sucking mud with every step . With the new shoes, it didn’t seem that way. I felt like I could easily propel myself forward. I was ecstatic and started thinking I really could run after all. Unfortunately, that euphoria was momentary. I got a half mile down the road and out of the blue my calves felt like they were going to explode or worse, detach from bone and sling shot across the wheat field, to be picked up as a snack by one of the local raptors. I was in agony. I turned around, limped my way home and threw the shoes in the closet. What the hell? I did everything I was supposed to, I slowly transitioned and built up. Why now? Needless to say, I didn’t run the rest of the summer. It took 3 weeks before my calves stopped hurting and I could actually go up or down stairs without half crawling or sliding down on my butt. I did a lot stretching to try to heal and resumed the Interval videos when I could manage.

Maybe out of just plain stubbornness and wanting to “win” my battle, I dug those damn Merrell’s out again a few weeks after that and started doing Insanity video’s (plyometrics/interval workouts) in them. Surprisingly, no pain.. ok, now we are getting somewhere…

This past November I started jogging once a week with a friend just to break up my workout routine. Still in the Merrell’s, no major issues. So far...
Nevertheless, after few times of jogging, I started having trouble again, but this time it wasn’t the calves. Instead, my left foot was acting up. I was experiencing pain /heat in the ball of my foot , metatarsal pain and some sciatic pain flaring up that was making my foot go numb. I knew what the issue was. I have lower back scoliosis which tilts my pelvis , which puts pressure on nerves, which causes sciatic pain. I also broke several metatarsal bones in that foot a number of years ago. Not wanting to give up the progress I had made with the running, I did something that was probably really dumb, and switched shoes. Yep, I went Back to my old Asic Gels, even though they were completely worn out and offered absolutely no support. I slapped some new insoles in them and kept on going. I did get some relief (maybe it was the placebo effect) and the foot pain was bearable.( I know, I am my own worst enemy)
but here's the good part, Pretty soon, I realized I was running 3.0 miles consistently and it wasn’t awful… I rmember the day I ran it. I hadn't even realized it until my running partner told me how far we had gone. Wait, Had I just attained my goal??? Holy crap!! I was running 3.0 miles, not in minimalist shoes but running it just the same. That’s nearly a 5k. I was there! FINALLY! I had come full circle in the shoe department but I could finally see myself crossing the finish lineof a 5K. I had decided I was going to stick with traditional running shoes and just work on form to avoid heel strike. Yes, you can improve form and not have Minimalist shoes. That was my master plan and I was going to run with it. No pun intended.
In April , my running partner and I were going to run the Summit Classic together. She is actually training for a half marathon but she was happy to support me and was actually thinking by then , I would likely be closer to being ready for the 10K…psshhhh… let’s not get carried away!

You know, the universe has a weird way of keeping thing in check. Just about the time things seem to be cookin right along with your plans and you can let down your guard a bit, a wrench gets thrown in the gears of life.

About 3 weeks ago, I decided it was nice enough out to do my scheduled 3.5 mile run outside. The sun was shining and there was only intermittent snow/ice on the roads. Good enough footing to take a slow run. I grapped my MP3 and set off. I wasn’t trying but I ran it faster than my usual time. I came home, stretched and went on with my day. I felt great, like I could have run another couple of miles easily. The next day, I woke up and couldn’t walk. My Achilles tendon was really painful. I literally could barely walk, Stairs were agony and so I hopped up them one legged (thank you Insanity videos)to spare myself the pain. I have no idea what happened. I never took a misstep on that run I never tripped,slipped, nothing.

The pain was so unbearable, wearing any shoes that touched the back of my foot was out of the question. My danskos were the only shoes that didn't make me want to wince in pain. I did the ice / anti inflammatory thing for a week with not much improvement.
I did not go to the doctor. In hind sight probably should have but I didn't want to spend $150 or more to be told to go home, rest and ice... I already knew that. I know enough about tendon injuries from horses that my options were limited.
So, I stopped running.
Again.

This has been the first week that tendon has really started to feel like it’s FINALLY healing.I can finally wear shoes other than dansko’s and I even did a Plyometric workout which required some jumping. The tendon held up.
Looking back at this path of destruction:

Mistake #1 Switching back and forth between shoes. Pick one that doesn’t hurt you and stick with it.
Mistake #2- Running in the Merrell’s with incorrect form. In an effort to not heel strike , I was over striding and pointing my toes and landing on the ball of my foot. Not cool.
Mistake #3- Cheeping out and using worn out traditional running shoes that offered NO support.
I have decided to go back to a more traditional running shoe but with less of a heel /toe ratio than the Asics but something in between. I don’t want to reinjure myself right in front of spring riding season. I don't want to be on the sidelines in my fitness routine.

For me, due to my foot injury, minimalist shoes may not an option for me for running. My left foot is going to require a bit more padding to stay comfortable. I have accepted that.

This has been a frustrating process but I have learned many valuable lesson. It draws a parallel to riding endurance. It’s not all one way for everyone. There is always more than one way to skin a cat. Or run a 5K, or whatever. Don’t just follow a fad because it’s a fad. In my case, I truly thought that minimalist running would fix my heel strike issue just by the nature of getting my foot level on the ground but my body mechanics fought it and I ended up injured. I realized that I can work on better running form and not need a total minimalist shoe. Minimalist shoes might not be for me, not the end of the world.
Here are some thoughts on parallels to the world of endurance riding:
Not every endurance rider needs to ride bitless
Not every endurance horses can use a treeless saddle or vice versa.
Not every horse can go barefoot and stay sound in any footing and those that are putting metal shoes on their steeds are not “ruining” their horse gait or legs. Or flip that, not every horse travels better in easy boots or barefoot.
Not every endurance horse needs to be electrolyted at every stop along the way.
And maybe my favorite, you don’t have to ride an Arabian to be successful in Endurance.

Not everyone can be suited to barefoot or minimlaist running. The next time you feel the pull of following a fad, do some careful research and listen to your body. If it' s not working, quit trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It's not going to work. Period.Change your plan. Do what feels right.

Excercise should have some level of fun. For those of us that have a farm or livestock to stay on top of, being injured makes life very difficult. I intend to go back and start training again for the 5K but you can bet that before I step foot on the road, I will be in shoes that support me properly and I will listen to my body this time. There's always another 5K somewhere. If not in April , then in June or July , etc.

Schlepping

It seems like just few weeks ago I was enjoying the mild winter we were having. I was actually riding in my outdoor arena. The footing wasn’t totally ideal, mildly frozen but it was snow free and certainly rideable enough for some walking work. Temps were in the 40’s and even 50’s into December.
As if winter heard my thoughts, and probably those of many of others out there thinking the same thing, winter blew in with a fury in late December. The mountains received feet of snow in a 48 hour period. Fortunately the valley only received about 8 inches. You could almost hear the collective sigh from the skiers , snowmobilers and other winter sport enthusiasts among us. Most of that has melted now here on the valley floor and what remained, refroze, harder than cement. Ice in other areas. ever since, the mercury has stayed in teens and twenties . Regardless, I laughed in winters proverbial face and planted herb seeds anyways about 2 weeks ago. They are growing nicely in my southern window. I can hardly wait for gardening season, but I will have to wait.

In the meantime, riding at home is not an option for a while as the footing has degraded to more ice. In an effort to continue to ride, we have been hauling over to an indoor arena that is only about 1 mile up the road. It’s quite convenient. We have been going over once a week and getting an hour or so of ride time in. The going rate for haul ins around here is $15/horse/hour. It’s a bit pricey and somewhat of an inconvenience to load up and schlepp ourselves, the horses, the horse gear and all my layers of clothes over there in the name of getting an hour of riding once a week. My alternative is to board which is more expensive, about $300.00 for one month. How many times does $15 go into $300.00??? You do the math.

We’ll continue schlepping.

Our arena time was interesting the first time. I had never had Maggie in an indoor arena with deep sandy footing. She stepped into that sand and thought the devil himself was under her hooves. At first she wouldn’t move, then when she did, she went straight in the air, then she high stepped and snorted around like a hopped up, ginger tailed Standard Bred show horse. Luckily, the footing started to take it's toll and she resigned to the "weird" footing. Then came the issue with the cattle chute/pen configuration on one end of the arena, not to mention the daylight that was coming in under one of the doors and roping cattle wandering around just on the other side of that door. The owner of the facility is heavily involved in the rodeo scene and holds ropings and penning at the facility. Cows are just part of the gig.

We have been to the arena four times. The scary end of the arena gets a little less scary with each trip. Ofcourse, last weekend, we had to share the arena space with two longhorns and another guy exposing his horse to cattle.
Maggie was pretty sure she hadn’t signed up for this program and wanted to leave the scene in a hurry. We worked through it but we didn’t get much of anything else accomplished. I suppose getting her to walk up to the cattle and even moving them off (even if unintentional) can be defined as success.

I was surprised at Maggie’s reaction to the cows as she has ridden in among them before numerous times, but it has always been out in the open with range cattle. Apparently cattle in an arena look and smell a whole lot different.

I look forward to another round of cattle exposure in the arena, sort of…if for nothing else than to check it off the list of one more thing to expose her too. Overall, the arena experience has been an adventure and in the spirit of finding the good in things I think it's been a great learning experience. Look at all she has learned..

-the fake roping cattle dummy thing isn’t going to kill her, until someone moves it… then you should turn and bolt like hell to get away from it
-dirt clods that fly up from her hooves and hit the arena wall with a thunk are not worth jumping straight in the air with all four feet and nearly driving the riders seat bone into their abdomen upon landing
-Condensation dripping off the roof of the arena that land on your butt should not require a bolt and a buck that would qualify one for the pro circuit rodeo
-Arena footing is downright exhausting and it’s a lot of work to go around being tense
-Light coming in under the arena door isn’t horse killing aliens landing their mothership
-And.. last but not least, you can and will be passed by other horses who are in the arena at the same time as you, even horses going the other direction and no, you can’t turn around and follow them..(still working that one out!)

Spring can come anytime… trail riding is way less work!!!

Bracing the Sails

In my last post, I posted that Endurance just wasn’t in the cards this year for Maggie and I. Our slow start into conditioning due to weather hindered any progress right from the get go. From there, it just seemed like it was one thing or another popping up that got in the way and my whole spring riding season kind of imploded on me. Any conditioning rides we did manage to get to, starting in late June, became nothing but a battle on the trail. Maggie was usually fine if I rode alone. I could keep her at a decent pace but add one other rider and the fight was on. I wasn’t having fun on the trail, Maggie was a terror and before I knew it, I was 3 weeks out from the only nearby ride on the schedule this year. I had planned to attend for months.

Fortunately for me, some of the most difficult decisions can be the easiest decisions when you look at the facts. The facts were that Maggie wasn’t even close to being ready, physically or mentally to complete a limited distance ride. So, I bagged plans to attend and , subsequently, resigned to the fact that everything endurance related in my life was just going to be on hold for now.

Disappointed ? Yes but also a sense of relief came with it. Hubby and I headed out shortly thereafter that decision for a vacation to Idaho and Oregon. During that week away, I decided that when we returned I would make plans to attend an upcoming Alice Trindle clinic for a weekend of private lessons for Maggie and I. Tom was also on the schedule for some lesson time with Alice to do Garocha work. The clinic was being hosted at a friend’s ranch about 3 hour’s away, so we had a place to stay.

I needed a new gust of air to fill my sails. I thought maybe this would do it. If nothing else, it would give me another fun weekend away.

The clinic began on Friday July 22 and we headed down that day. My ride time was Saturday afternoon.

The Training issues I wanted to address:
-Rushiness due to hyper sensitive to any leg pressure . Not able to get any effective responses with lateral work due to hypersensitivity.
-Tension when traveling counter clock wise, locking her back and jaw and pushing through her outside shoulder when doing circles in that direction
-At a halt, hind quarter release with leg pressure ; get Maggie to take just one step over when applying leg pressure as opposed to wanting to blast head or rear (when I tried to block her forward motion)
-Tension in Maggie creating me to brace my lower back which caused more tension in Maggie, which caused more tension in my lower back, which ……; well you get the picture.
-Getting her relaxed enough at a trot where she did not hold her breath.


Training Sessions at Home (what I had started doing)
-From the ground, ask Maggie to step a hind foot over, just one step in each direction without walking forward.
-Once she was accepting that, I would get on and purposefully move my legs around along her sides while walking , but not asking anything to get her to begin to differentiate between real leg pressure for a queue and the sensation of my leg touching her sides.
-Bending at a walk using lots of circles, serpentines, etc . Walk over ground rails, stop and back with a soft feel.
-Turn and change direction without speeding up in the turn.
-Different speeds at a walk, slow walk, faster walk, fastest walk and vice versa (Hurry does not Mean Worry)

Knowing that things fell apart in a trot, I kept our home sessions mostly at the walk (as maddening as it often became for me, it was what Maggie needed). .

The Goals for the clinic
-To get some further ideas and help in slowing Maggie down
-Figure out if what I have been asking is correct. What do I need to change?
-Learning to recognize when her braciness is a direct result of my braciness.
-Figure out how to help Maggie start putting less effort into fighting me and more effort into listening to me

The Lesson
Out in the middle of a large mowed hay field , an “arena “was marked off by 4 cones. I talked to Alice about my frustrations with Maggie and what we had been working on and what I had hoped to accomplish. We started out working at a walk and she had me bend Maggie around each cone at the corners. As I turned her around the cone, Alice wanted me to open up the inside rein way out(so traveling left, I would turn her by opening my left arm out and down towards the ground) She also had me over exaggerate my posture and weight distribution to the inside of the circle by leaning down and bit a forward, towards her shoulder and the ground (don’t know how to make that make sense any better than that ) as I was guiding Maggie around the cone. As I came out of the circle I would balance up and let Maggie follow my seat aid for a leg yield over to the straight line of the arena. At first, we were out of sync and Maggie was wondering why I was leaning and throwing her off balance but she was having to compensate and shift how she was moving. AHA! She was having to pay attention! I wasn’t really long before Maggie started slowing down and listening to me. Part of it was that it was something totally new, part of it was that I was putting her into a bit of physical bind , causing a mental change in her. Pretty soon, the whole picture started coming together, she softened around the cones and actually started following her nose, stepping under herself and as she came out of the circle , she started floating over to what would be the rail of the arena. I wasn’t having to apply unnecessary pressure with my leg. Instead, she was responding to the balancing up in my seat. After a bit, we lessened the exaggeration of the weight distribution and went back to correct posture and Maggie continued to listen well. So basically , we set it up so Maggie had to pay attention to me with exaggerated “not so good” posture. This little exercise threw a total wrench in things for us at first but it worked. We repeated this process at a trot. As expected it started out rough. Ofcourse I got bracey with my lower back and as you can imagine, so did Maggie. Once I settled in and started focusing on relaxing my back and seat, Maggie started working for me instead of against me. By the time the hour and half lesson was over, I had a horse who was trotting at a normal rhythm and pace, that I could easily sit to . I had a horse that was soft , able to bend, and driving from her hind end. It was lovely.

Key points:

-Insisting on a change of gait from Maggie when I asked her to slow, even if it means we momentarily break into a walk and her head comes up and she momentarily travels like a camel.
-As rough and uncomfortable as it can get, work through various speeds at the trot ; anywhere from slow as a peanut rolling Western pleasure trot to Maggie’s fast trot to a normal trot and vice versa. Let her trot big and fast for a lap , but then insist she come back down. All the while, mix it up with changes of direction, circles, serpentines, etc keep her guessing.
-Don’t let Maggie go too far in a straight line at this time
-Change speeds often- it may take a while to help Maggie sort out that she actually can travel at different speeds at my request.

So there you have it. In the spirit of sharing those not so great times that I know we all have in training our horses(but are all too often not mentioned amongst us!). Maybe it will encourage someone else out there struggling with their horse like I was, to take a step back and look at what their horse needs , instead of staying the course with our own goals.

A lot of what I took away from my time with Alice was similar to what I had already been working on but it really makes a difference to have someone else confirm what you think is the right thing and then getting to see a change in your horse as a result of getting a little instruction. Getting to feel what it feels like when things are good and not just guessing that it was right!

In the last couple of weeks since the clinic, Maggie and I have had some really nice arena sessions on our own.

I do believe our sails are braced and I can finally advance the ship in her course.

Fun with Tarps

It's been a while since I posted much in the way of photos so here are some taken when I was reintroducing Maggie to dragging something around.

She's pretty bored with it, as you can see but it's a valuable tool. Tarps or things that "blow" in the wind can really spook a horse and land a rider a visit to the hospital. I will usually start out with a rope just dragging. I will switch hands, and therefore the horse will need to "switch eyes" ** make sure you have worked on this from the ground before you try it from the saddle..please!) I will also have soemone else drag the tarp, husband, or husband on his horse and we will follow the tarp along. In both dragging and chasing, we start at a walk and work up into a canter. To progress, we eventually add a towel to the rope, then a bag of some kind of plastic , something that makes noise and then progress from there depending on how the horse has handled it. I should mention that I didn't just jump on and start dragging noisy things around. I introduced her to all of this long before , from the ground , as part of her groundwork. Noisy plastic bags and tarps, and even bubble wrap was all part of her ground work. Maggie seems to be a pretty brave girl and doesn't get too worried about noises so this process has gone quite fast in comparison to what I have experienced with other colts.

Winter Training Journal 2

I have nothing for this journal entry, absolutely nothing.

I was supposed to go on a conditioning ride today with my friend and endurance riding companion Debbie , but it began to snow. I thought it would only last a little bit but it just kept coming down. I threw on my snow boots and walked out to the road to see just how bad it was when I nearly fell on my arse. hmmmphh.. A well packed layer of ice...

Normally I would not have let a little weather stop me, but sometimes, safety and logic do have to weigh in. Driving a truck and 16 ft trailer on good roads can be tricky enough, driving a truck and 16 ft trailer on snow packed and icy roads, I am not even going to try , less it be an emergency. Of course, the tires that are on the truck aren't exactly what I would call good at this stage... (note to self, get tires)
With nothing else to be done, I cursed mother nature and slip slided my way back to the house to call Debbie and cancel.

Tis the season I guess. Instead of riding, I did manage to find something useful to do with my time. That pile of laundry that needed to be folded has now been tackled and I even pulled out the boxes of Christmas decorations in preparation for the coming days. In between household chores, I peered out occasionally and watched the horses frolic in the snow. They seemed to be enjoying it. Glad someone was..

Fond Memories

I got an email the other day.

My last and favorite TB that I had from my breeding program years ago had been sold. I have never been good at selling horses for this reason alone. You never really get to say what happens to them after they are gone. Lucky for me, I had befriended the couple that I had sold him to and was fortunate enough to have been keeping in touch, getting updates and even got to see Wes every summer at the local events for the last 4 years. They gave him a great home and he was doing well in his show career. Their decision to sell came after a series of injuries , which left Wes unable to compete at the higher levels that the owners were at . At first, their decision seemed selfish to me but I understand . Limited time, limited resources and as much as we all may want to , we can't always just keep horses to just sit around. Wes could still be used for novice low level jumping, trail riding and easy work but that would be the extent of it. From what I am told his new owners sound like they will also give him a good home. I hope he does well for them.

I was reorganizing and saving off pictures to discs when I ran across this series of photos taken of me riding him a few years back. These pictures were taken right before a horse show I was preparing him for. (please ignore my bad crotch hands!)

It was fun to take a moment to remember Wes . We learned alot from each other and he will always have a special place in my heart.

Winter training Journal 1

It's not officially winter yet, but I am so grateful that we have not had snow ( of course I may have just jinxed myself) because I have been fortunate enough to remain riding in my arena. I hope to continue to be able to do that into December.


It thought I would try journal my training sessions here , with the hopes that it will keep me accountable. Ofcourse, they may be spotty as the we get further into winter but we'll give it a go nonetheless.
Last evening I arrived home a bit early and saddles in a fury, knowing that I had just an hour to spare before dark. Once in the saddle, I spent a good 15 minutes at a walk, working on ...what else.. getting a JB soft and responsive through bending, lateral work, and maintaining long and low. Most of this was to warm JB up sufficiently, as the temperature was dipping. Hard to relax with cold muscles.
When we were were ready I asked JB into a trot. We worked on traveling in a long and low frame to start but after a few trips, I began to ask for him to soften through his poll and jaw. At the same time I encourage him for a bit more impulsion with a slight squueze and release pattern with my lower leg. For brief moments, the shape of JB's neck changes, his back lifts ever so slightly and his trot feels "springier". This is the beginning of him coming together into a frame. He doesn't hold it long, but it's definitely improved from even 3 months ago. We work on this as I move him into a figure eight using half of the arena. He is bending nicely into his corners (Ha!) without the resistance I had on Sunday.

I move him back down the straighline of the arena, and ask for a transition down into a working walk, working my finges gently on the reins to encourage him to "chew" the bit down so we do not drop into a walk with him bracing his back and popping his head up. JB partially hesitates and gets a bit bracey for a mement, but with a little squeeze of my leg and a little feel on the rein, he comes right back and is soft in my hands.

By now, the sun is down and the temperature has dropped. I spent a few more minutes working on walk, halt, trot transitions.

To be continued......

When its Good Enough

In most aspects of my life, settling for good enough is not an option ; but with horse training, it can make the difference between getting through to a horse or sending them down the wrong path of resentment. Every time I lead a horse out to the arena for a training session , I remind myself to look for the moment when it's "good enough".

What is good enough?

It's like a cameleon that changes colors, camoflaging itself into the landscape or like an late afternoon shadow that races past you before you realize it. "Good enough" in horse training is always in motion, it changes day to day, sometimes moment to moment.
For the last couple of sessions in the arena with JB, I have had to really pay attention to that phrase , or take a chance of going too far with him. I am working JB through a few "sticky " spots in regards to softness and gettting more with less. I found myself slipping into wanting more when it's good, but not good enough....
JB can be a deceptive little horse because from the outside he often looks calm and quiet, but to the unattentive trainer, a storm can be brewing just below the surface. He will not wear his heart on his sleeve, no, he is much too proud for that. His typical M.O. is to give me only the slightest signals when something is amiss with him. Rarely , if ever, will he be so obvious as throw a tantrum or buck..
Traveling to the left, JB tenses into the corners of the arena, falling onto his inside shoulder, rib cage stiff. I ask for a bend with a little sqeeze on the inside rein and a suppporting inside leg at the girth. My outside leg remains soft and is a bit behind the girth to encourage him to maintain his impulsion. JB tenses more, rushes through the corner, falling heavy on his forehand. Arrgggg...failed attempt.. we have three more corners yet, so we'll try again. Down the long side of the arena, I ask for him to lengthen his stride. We'll try again at the next corner, not making a fuss about it. Here comes the corner again, again he quietly ignores the cues I am giving. His left ear flicks back to me in a fleeting moment, as if to say, "Yes, I hear you, but it's awful hard to focus at the moment". His reluctance to soften and the flick of his ear is his signal to me that something isn't jiving for him; Nothing more, nothing less.

While this excercise is nothing new for JB , today is a different day and today , he is struggling a bit. Each time I ask for him to ride into the corner as opposed to stiffen and cut the corner, his head comes up a bit, his pace quickens . he becomes unbalanced because his hind end is not engaged and he is heavy on the forehand. A rather common , fixable problem.
Since I know he understands the cues for for what I am asking, I need to change something in how I am presenting it to him and this usually means breaking it down into smaller pieces, setting it up so I know he can have some success.
I ask him into a walk and work on a spiraling in and out of circle traveling to the left. I give a little feel on the inside rein, and little squeeze at the girth with my inside leg, timed with his inside leg, just prior to when it pushes off the ground. This will encourage him to step bigger underneath himself. He responds with a softened ribcage and he is now traveling on the circle. He chews the bit down, softening his back. I let the reins slide through my fingers as he reaches down further and further, encouraging him to reach and stretch down. I work him through each corner of the arena doing this excercise and after each corner we travel down the corresponding long side of the arena with soft contact and a nice working walk. He is making his grunting , soft blowing sounds he often makes when he is letting go and relaxed and he feels light and responsive. The stiffness I had previously felt through his body is no longer there. He feels more like maleable clay in my hands and legs. Much better.....We spend a few more moments on a couple of lateral excercises like shoulder in, shoulder-out, etc. JB is responding softly and quietly to everything I am asking.


At this point, I have to consider, do I stop here? Is this good enough?

My answer?


Yes, it was indeed good enough. In fact it was more than good enough. My decision to stop at that point was based on his experience. I had chosen a place to stop where he was feeling good about the session, which builds his confidence, which will lay the groundwork for the next time. There is no need to drill an excercise in order to get what I am asking of him. He already knows the cues and for this particular day, doing this at a trot was more than he could manag. Instead of going back and risking failure, we got it good at the walk and left it at that. He was responsive, soft and mentally in a good place. Why get greedy?

I think this is a tough thing for trainers to accept. We often have these things called "agenda's and get caught up in them. The thoughts of " I must have this horse jumping 3 and 1/2 feet in a month to be ready for that show" or " I must have this horse doing flying lead changes next week for the dressage show".. etc, etc..

I have found that when I adjust to meet my horse at the half way point and work with him from where he is, instead of where I might want him to be at any given moment, it comes back to me twofold and we get further faster . My horse then looks forward to our sessions and is willing to try harder for me.

Waiting a little longer in order to accomplish that effortless Leg Yield, and more importantly having a happy horse, is well worth it in my opinion.

The Garrocha

I got an email the other day from my dressage instructor . She is trying to coordinate a few lessons for her students in this area (she travels here from another area once a month). I really need to get with her as it’s been a while since I have had a lesson but in addition to the scheduling, she was asking about my goals for the year and what I have been focusing on. It was perfect timing because for the last week or more, I have stayed close to home with JB, working primarily in our outdoor arena or in our pasture. In the course of doing some initial refresher work in the arena a few weeks back (in the snow) JB ever so kindly reminded me that we have much work to do on a few key things that he didn’t think he had quite down yet. I had to agree with him, he did need a little more work on some things, as did I. If I ever have any hope of doing flying lead changes with JB, I guess I better nip this in the bud and continue to work on getting the lateral work more concrete. If I can get conditioning in alongside of the classroom time, so much the better but we may have to forego the May ride. We’ll see how he progresses. To me it’s more important at this point that JB gets better about suppleness and engagement of the hindquarters = a better ride on the trail later. That I can live with, a horse traveling around on his forehand? Not so much….
Since I find that arena work can become painfully boring I wanted to spice it up a bit. You might have noticed on the sidebar that I have Garrocha listed under JB’s 2009 conditioning schedule. I have decided begin to implement the use of the Garrocha with JB. I was introduced to this last year at Alice Trindle’s clinic when she did a quick demo for us, using Tom’s horse Cassidy, of her newly found skills in the Doma Vaquero traditions and the Garrocha. Being partial to Spanish horses myself, and the traditions that go along with them, I found the Garrocha quite fascinating. In Spain, the Doma Vaquero uses the Garrocha, a 13 ft wooden pole to work the Spanish bulls, but there is a lot more than meets the eye. Leg-yields, half passes, counter canter, rollbacks, stops, flying leads changes , canter pirouette, etc are all elements that are required to master the working the bulls. Hmm, sounds like all the same stuff we are all trying to accomplish with our horses doesn’t it? There are several YouTube videos out there that have some great footage of the “Garrachista” performing in competition if your curious. You will see that they do this with no reins and the horse is cued with only seat, leg and the communication that is required between horse and rider is a wonderful display of horsemanship.
While I don’t think I would ever get to the level of those performing, I found that the Garrocha work offered some key things that would be really helpful in the training with JB and any other horse for that matter. One of the first things that jump out at me is Rhythm, as you work around the garrocha, you can see that the rider and the horse are performing a dance , leg yields become effortless in time; Bending; the pole gives horse and rider something visual to bend around; Timing, you have to be in sync with your horse with your cues as you work around the pole and your horse has to be paying attention to your cues as you turn around and under the pole, the rider even comes into better balance and better posture and lastly but maybe most important is Purpose. The pole suddenly tied the bending exercises to an actual job, something I find really helps keep JB’s mind with me. All of these things are right in line with getting a horse lighter and more responsive.It also seems to force the rider to properly apply seat and leg aids instead of relying on your reins. As a secondary gain, the cues much more clear. It seems to keep the lesson much more interesting than just using barrels or standing objects to turn around. Besides when first learning, it offers a great entertainment source to any bystanders as I fumbled and dropped the pole.
I could see the first thing I had to do before I could teach JB was to teach my self and become somewhat comfortable with managing a 13 foot pole, and at the same time directing my horse and trying not to drop the pole or hit myself or the horse with it.. I am not the most coordinated individual so Tom had a few good laughs as I fumbled around with it. He was kind enough to offer Cassidy to me to start on, since good ol Cass already knew the ropes. I could focus less on my horse and more on me. He was very patient. Tom was nice enough to even snap some photos of our fumbling…

Then I moved on to Rebel. I felt like I was starting to get it….maybe.. There were glimmers of moments where I found myself and my horse in the correct place and balance together. Here we were kind of falling out of sync but when we had it right...What a thrill to feel lightness, willingness and harmony. For glimmers of moments it all came together just right.. Guess we will keep practicing!

This photo was our first attempt at turning back under the pole and change direction.

So, now that I sort of have a sense of what I am doing... JB, may I have this dance?

The Levade

Yesterday and today I spent some time working with JB from the ground. We reviewed many of the basics with some flag work, tarps, the bridge , hind end releases, shoulder-in, shoulder-out, etc. JB was rusty at first but came around right away. JB displayed some rather animated stunts today on the line. Tom snapped some photos of our session from his horse Cassidy ( got his ear in the photo). Looks like JB has almost perfected his Levade....What do you think???Almost ready for the Spanish Riding School?

After this initial display of "Molto Vivace", JB did settle down and get to work in a nice working trot, reaching and bending. The round pen is still full of snow so I found one small patch of dry dirt in our pasture for our work area.

This is more like the soft responsive boy I know!

I was quite pleased to see the drape in the rein when I saw this photo.

Well, regardless of the training bumps of late, he sure can be a fun horse and a handsome one at that!

Being a Leader during Difficult Moments

You ever have those rides that make you think “why I am subjecting myself to this”?

Last night’s ride proved to be less than what I would consider fun. It was a beautiful clear evening and the sun was shining but it was cold. After a stressful day at work, I was looking forward to riding. JB was busting at the seams with energy and before we even got out of the driveway, I could tell there was a storm brewing in him. JB was less then pleased to go out right around dinner time, but he had hay in front of him most of the day so we weren’t exactly heading out on an empty stomach. Beet pulp makes JB kookoo for cocoa puffs because he just loves it.
As we fish tailed down the road for the 1st half mile in pleasant bone jarring jog/walk, I finally let him trot out. Let him burn off some energy. The fishtailing or ping ponging as I call it, continued. It is a direct result of his mind being back at home and him trying to get turned around to go back home. This is nothing new with him. Frustrating as all get out, but usually manageable. Part of this is related to the herd issues that come with riding a stallion and part of it is that we have some relationship issues to sort out as far as leadership. JB has a very busy mind and keeping his mind with me and the task at hand has been our ongoing trouble spot. Unfortunately, his mind is usually several steps ahead of me.
We bee bopped down the road in a tense trot. He was not thinking forward and therefore his feet were not moving forward.

..."If you can direct the thought, the feet will follow "... I reminded myself… Words of wisdom from the clinician Harry Whitney who I would trust with my horses life. Unfortunately, I wasn’t having much success in directing the thought. I added a little squeeze with my leg with each pushing off stride with his hind feet to encourage a lengthened trot and he would blast forward. I then gave a little squeeze on the rein to half halt and ask him to slow, engage from the hind and come onto the bit some. This give and take pattern continued and I was slowly making progress for brief moments. Ok... We can build on brief moments I thought.
Right about that time, I hear a “clank” of metal and then the sound of the buckle on the boot flopping with each step he made. He managed to catch his front right boot with his hind right boot. We have been having this over reaching problem on his right side since his feet are feeling better . To try to resolve this, I have started using cotter pins with the hind boots to keep him from kicking the buckle loose. Well, some how he kicked the cotter pin right out or it broke and the cotter pin disappeared somewhere into the ditch. No use searching for it. I had brought two extras just in case, thankfully.

I hopped off to get things back in order so we could finish our ride and every fiber in my body screamed “go home , have a glass of wine and call it a day”.

In order to recalp the boot and put in another cotter pin, JB would need to stand still and wait patiently. JB had other ideas. He thought this moment would be an opportune time to play ring around the rosy or something. Every time I would step towards his hind end or bend over to grab his foot , he would step his hind quarters away from me at Mach chicken speed and try to head in direction we just came from . Home.
This went of for several minutes and the situation was deteriorating quickly. He offered to rear and at the same time, did what I call a sunfish. As he reared, he turns his neck and head to the opposite direction of where I am standing and pulls away from me. I feared he would succeed and get away from my hold. Then we would really have a problem. He would have to cross a main road and stood a good chance of getting hit. During this fit he was apparently having, he also managed to kick me during one of my attempt to get a hold of his leg. He caught the outside of my lower left leg. These barbs have very fast little feet.!! Thank god he had boots on otherwise it would have been worse. I realized the kick was out of frustration that I wasn’t letting him go where he wanted. It was a hard enough kick that I developed a good sized hematoma by late last night but really didn’t feel much pain at the time, I supposed due to the adrenalin pumping through me.
I realized I needed to change the program because we weren’t getting anywhere. He was not going to stand quietly for me so I could do what I needed to and we certainly couldn't go on with a flopping boot. For whatever reason, JB was well into meltdown mode like I have never seen before with him.
Standing still for JB has always been difficult. It has a lot to do with his busy mind. When I first started JB, he didn’t want to stand still to have the saddle put on him and would run around in a circle. Harry worked with me on this in a clinic a couple years back. He taught me that a horses feet are nothing more than a means to get his body to where his brain is. JB’s brain was back at home. His feet were moving because he wanted to get home. When a horse is not wanting to stand quietly, our first reaction is to keep trying to make them stop their feet to stand still by popping the lead rope. The feet are secondary. It’s the mind I had to get back and the feet will come.
So, not having a safe area to really work this through (busy gravel road) I had to be thoughtful about my approach to keep JB safe while getting him to change his thought about going home. Instead of focusing on trying to make him stop moving his feet, I allowed him to move his feet but the key point here is that I directed his feet…. in a circle around me. It started out as a pretty furious paced circle, a speed JB was choosing. He was still tense, his head was still held high but I wasn’t sending him around at that speed. An important piece that I want to emphasize is that as he was choosing the pace.My role was to allow that but direct the feet and then offer him a good deal to slow down, to show him that it would be a lot less work to choose to stay with me mentally and physically than try to leave. He was still pretty focused on getting home as he went around me. I am pretty sure that he thought that if he could run around the circle fast enough, he might just be able to launch himself home. Every time he made it to the south side of the circle, he was looking hard to the outside (toward home). He was also pulling on me. Guess he figured that since the launching wasn’t working, maybe he could just drag me home. At this point, in the round pen, I would usually do something to interrupt his thought .In this case since I could see he was mentally checking out, I took my stirrup fender and snapped it, timing it with his pulling on me and looking away, to bring his mind back to what we had going on. It's sort of like saying.. "HELLO, I am right here... pay attention..." In the round pen I might have used my flag or even done a cartwheel to get his attention (really, I have done that) You could do other things too I suppose to capture their attention but being that he was on a line ,I had limited options and the leather was easy to grab. I knew it would be enough to get him to think something different anything but than leaving, even if his mind drifted to something else. I was trying to direct his thought, hoping eventually I could bring it back to me.
Sounds easy enough right? Unfortunatley, the next thing is a crucial point and can be a bit tricky. Watching for the smallest sign that he had a change of thought, even for a passing second. That would be the exact time he would need a reward. After a couple of times of snapping the fender, he finally said… “WHAT IN THE WORLD IS IT THAT YOU WANT LADY??”

AHA!!! His ear flicked and his inside eye actually made contact to the inside of the circle, I had him . Finally he was asking the question I wanted to answer for him.

I said, “Well, dear son, I would sure like it if you would slow down a bit and be here a moment with me”.

I consciously made my body language into quiet relaxed stance (without looking suspicious) I let out a deep breath and talked in a quieter voice to him. I slowed my pace and he slowed, just a bit. I gave a small bump on the lead to cue him to slow more, now that he was paying some attention. He responded with “ BUT I REALLY WANT TO GO HOME “

And I said, “ Yes, I know and we will go home, but we are going to have to go home together”.

After a bit of this discussion and give and take, he walked. I continued to talk and stay quiet and asked him to come around me with a nice bend which slowed him more . As he bends through the jaw, that released his entire top line and he came around the circle with the nicest bend that went from head to tail. He was finally letting go , let out a huge sigh and he finally said, “ WELL , THERE YOU ARE, I WAS LOOKING FOR YOU! I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER"

Usually when he gets here, he begins to yawn repeatedly and tt’s at this point, he is ready to move on. Lesson over. I will mention that just because it worked and I was able to get him back, that doesn’t mean he will stay there with me mentally. Given his state of mind, it was a real possibility that I may lose him again. Nonetheless, JB finally stood quietly and I was able to latch his buckle down and insert the new cotter pin. Mission accomplished, for now. I hopped on and off we went.
We now kept on in the direction we were headed. I had another mile before our turn around point. I suppose I could have turned around right then and everything would have gone fine. I wasn’t worried about sending the wrong message to JB had I turned around. I just wanted to ride a bit with him engaged so well. JB happily walked out and was looking ahead. No more weaving or ping ponging. What a relief. Right about then , there was a lady coming toward us walking her dog and then behind her about a half mile was a group of about 8 bicycle riders coming down the road. I may have made a mistake by continuing!! Well , I got him past the lady with only minor concerns but when JB spotted what was coming at him next, his body filled with tension, his head popped up and I could feel his heart pounding. Here we go again I thought. He wanted to turn and run and frankly so did I. I had to remain calm and be ready for whatever was about to unfold, while trying to keep JB as calm as possible. The bikers must have sensed that JB was nervous by his body language and were nice enough to slow up and talk as they passed, which sometimes helps. I have had other horses balk at bikes and have found that if you can get the bikers talking (which can be hard sometimes) a horse usually can recognize that bikers are people with really weird legs if the biker talks. Not this time. Today, it was too much. JB lost it. He spun around and tried to bolt. In one HUGE leap, we landed with all four feet in the ditch which probably saved us. The ditch was full of about 3 feet of snow. It kind of hobbled his momentum , atleast enough for him to stop and think about something else other than the bikers. By now the bikers were past and looking back at us, probably glad that they were on the bikes and not on this horse. He jumped up out of the ditch and we carried on. But, interestingly enough, he didn’t stay bothered. He just resumed a nice steady walk. Maybe our earlier lesson stuck?
We made it to our turn around a point and I even went a little further. He had settled down quite a bit. By now things were calm enough I was feeling the pain in my leg and apparently he had also jerked on me e hard enough that my middle back was also aching. Twisting to turn around and look behind us (to be proactive with oncoming vehicles) was rather difficult. We managed to get home without any more major issues. I unbooted, unsaddled , brushed him off and gave him his beet pulp. I went in for the evening, glad to have arrived with both of us safe but was left thinking about a few things.
JB’s a stallion and no matter how well behaved he has the ability to be, it will always require me to handle things a little differently than I would with a gelding or a mare. Tonight was a very good display of how JB can turn on the pressure because he doesn’t want to follow my lead. The dominance can come on strong. He did everything he knew to try to get away from the perceived pressure, which was to travel down the road with me and be away from his herd.
As I work toward being his leader that he will happily go along with, there may be some times when I have to step out of my comfort zone. Last night I had to be careful since I was out there in the open, my priority was to keep him safe. If I were in a round pen, I may have handled things a bit different. When JB gets “big” and displays behavior like rearing, kicking and these sorts of things, it is no longer only about being his leader, its about safety. Had we been in a round pen, and he had reared, I would have come in alot bigger as soon as he turned up the pressure (rearing) to meet his pressure. Why? To establish those boundaries of what is ok and what is not okay. Establishing clear boundaries and rewarding at the right time is a crucial part of working with any horse , but it seems moreso with a stallion. Last night, I had to choose my battles he may try this again. With any luck, we will have a few things better established if and when it does.
Now that JB’s feet are feeling better, it's pretty clear that he is showing me some things I hadn’t seen before. Being full of spring testosterone I suppose the desire to be the dominant force is playing into the cards. He is testing those lines with me. Last night, his very strong self-preservation instinct was in the "on" position and he wanted the comfort of his herd. He wasn't too keen on my ideas of going out for a ride and so he tried to go over , around and run away from that idea.The hardest part about all of this? Remembering it’s not personal and keeping the emotion out of it. It’s hard to keep yourself calm and not get angry in these situations. Were not there yet, but I am not giving up. We have way too much to do together.

Long Slow Distance, New Beginnings

As I sit down to pound out this post, I feel a bit weary but it’s a good weary. It’s a weary that comes from pure physical labor. So begins the season of running at full accelerator. Saturday kicked off our spring cleanup marathon around the place which included 3 loads to the dump of wet, rotten , soggy hay. Hours were spent raking, shoveling, fencing, currying, raking, cleaning, sweeping, did I mention raking??? You get the drift. The currying was a moment of weakness when I happened to look over at the geldings. They just looked itchy! They appreciated the gesture and my blisters appreciated the break.
Things are really starting to melt here and as a result things are a real mess. We got a lot accomplished, although it feels like we only scratched the surface. With the agenda full of yard work yesterday, I had to forego a ride but today, it was first on the agenda.
Already tired from Saturdays full schedule, I wrestled the boots onto all four of JB’s feet, only to finish soaking wet with sweat. The sun was out and I was dressed much too warm. By the time I finished getting the boots on and JB saddled up, the sky now threatened a downpour which would have been refreshing but the clouds skittered off to the northeast and the sun came out again. Perfect…. I grabbed my helmet , slipped off my knee high rubber muck boots and into my riding boots, climbed aboard and off we went. Now that JB’s feet are feeling better, he is showing me much more animation, a side of him I have long since forgotten. Todays ride consisted of everything being scary , even thought none of it was anything JB hadn’t seen a thousand times before. Nonetheless, I have to work with him from where he is at , not where I think he should be. Atleast I knew right way what kind of ride we might be in for and he didn’t disappoint.
Vehicles coming up from behind him sent him into a flurry of scurry, even offering a sideways crow hop today. Oncoming bicycle riders were surely horse eating monsters and caused him to let out an ear piercing warning blow that could be heard for miles. (Last year bike riders were fair game to chase). Miniature horses were cause for pause until they moved, and then became the scariest thing ever to be seen. All the talking and soothing by my voice was only barely helpful today. I found that if I could spot a car coming in enough time, I would stop and have JB face the car and wait until it went by. This seemed to help, and surprisingly seemed to help signal the driver to slow down! By the time we hit the first mile, I think I was probably turning blue from holding my breath so many times (not suggested). I realized this wasn’t helping either of us and took a moment to gather myself at that point. Otherwise, how could I be much help to him? By mile 3, things were starting to come together for us. Vehicles coming from behind were no longer quite as scary and he was listening to me and responding to a pet along his neck as the vehicle went by to reassure him that it was okay . I was glad to no longer be sitting astride a jet propelled rocket.
Not once during the 4 miles did he feel like he was getting the least bit tired. This was a defining moment for him and I and our previously questionable future with distance riding. There was no doubt left in my mind after the first few miles that this horse, with enough training time, will have the energy required to complete a 25 mile limited distance. That's a far cry from what I was thinking last fall.
Throughout the four miles JB maintained a nice energetic free swinging, head bobbing , flat footed walk. I allowed him to trot when he offered a few different times but only for short spurts. Last season, he rarely offered a trot on his own and if he did it was a slow trot. Today there was absolutely no pedaling him along. JB would have preferred that the ride go at a lot faster pace today but keeping the long slow distance in mind and also considering his state of mind, we walked most of the way, maybe only trotting a total of a mile of the four. JB had more energy and life to his gaits than I remember feeling in quite some time. I am quite thrilled because with the energy he is displaying also comes hope that I didn't completely have several months ago. He is willing to look down the trail with interest. As far as the spookiness, it 's a little nerve wracking. JB hasn't ever really displayed much spookiness so it's a bit of unknown territory with him but riding a spooky horse certainly isn't new to me. I suspect it will pass because it's not really his nature. It’s likely a combination of feeling really good and the fact that he hasn’t been able to get out and move much. Spring Fever if you will. I would imagine that after a week or two of steady work, this will dissipate and his mind will be a little easier to direct and he will allow me to support him more. It’s like a cloud has lifted for him and everything is new again… if that means I have to endure a few spooks here and there for a bit I suppose that's a small price to pay. What's more important to me is that he is feeling good enough to spook. From where we were last year??? That's huge.

The Passing of a Legend....

Just wanted to make mention of the passing of one of the great’s in the Natural Horsemanship. This post is dedicated to the Memory of Ray Hunt. August 31, 1929 - March 12, 2009.

While I never had the opportunity to attend any of his clinics, I have watched videos and read his books, articles and etc . He was , without a doubt one of the best out there when it came to understanding the horses. His ways have been very infuential in my own training and starting colts. One of my most favorite and , in my humble opinion, one of the most profound statements he ever echoed was

Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. -Ray Hunt

The memorial service information as well as an obituary has been posted on the Ray Hunt web site. Please visit http://www.rayhunt.com for details.
May all of us continue to strive to become the horseman this man was.

Level Of Awareness

A couple of new tack catalogs arrived in the mail this week, big red letters on the cover indicating a SALE. I find myself flipping through the pages mindlessly because over the years I have all but memorized what the companies sell. Occasionally there is something new to look at. It just so happens I am on the hunt for a few things for the upcoming endurance season. This time however I couldn’t help but notice how there seemed to be more and more pages of gadgets and devices filling up the catalogs that claim to hold, tie, fix, shape, and probably scare horses into doing some of the things we ask of them.

Since the weather is absolutely foul in my neck of the woods, I have had to settle for simply watching from a distance as the horses romp and play in the pasture. Considering my observations along with the gadgets in the catalogs and I can’t help but wonder. Why on earth do we need all these gadgets?

When I watch the horses in the field, it becomes blatantly obvious to me that these fine creatures are more than capable of performing beautiful movements without all the gadgets. Even more amazing, they do it in ways that appear to be nonphysical and nonverbal ways. It’s more subtle, a look, a flick of an ear, a shift in weight. One horse’s subtle body language, an ounce of an expression, can ripple through the herd to take some type of action like run , look, go closer or just pay attention. I think of the situation in our little herd. Roman, perks up his head .. some noise or movement has drawn his attention away from grazing. His head goes up, his body goes more rigid or on alert, his ears forward . His whole body is charged with contained energy. The rest of the herd suddenly stops grazing and adopts his energy, posture.. ready to take whatever action.

Now imagine if we as horseman could somehow take that level of awareness and energy and harness it so that we as humans could communicate with our horses as horses communicate with each other.

I hate to make broad sweeping generalizations but it seems we as a society have somehow become pretty tuned out to most things. Think about it, how many of us go from work to the grocery store and while there, notice a gathering of people blocking the aisle way to chat, completely tuned out the fact that they may be in someone else’s way. It’s even worse nowadays with all the ipods and iphones and all the other gadgets on the markets today for people.

By becoming more aware, more focused on our surroundings, it would be truly amazing at the influence we might be able to have on the horse and to take it one step further, an influence that would actually make sense to him. How many of us could have avoided those hours spent trying to figure this round pen ground work thing out and standing in the middle of the round pen doing some kind of natural horsemanship Irish jig. We were just simply trying to go through the motions of what we learned at the clinic we attended or from the video we recently watched but we were missing the one key ingredient. We weren’t really tuned in….We weren’t clear on what it was we were asking of the horse and we probably didn’t really even know what we wanted to get out of this so called session. Meanwhile, the horse is out there trying to make sense of all these confused signals were sending that we expected him to understand when we didn’t’ even understand ourselves at the time.

In all seriousness , there are times when we do influence our horses and don’t even realize it. I think back to when I was showing and 3-day eventing in Pony Club. It never failed, my horse wouldn’t stand still to be mounted at these events. At home, he would stand like a statue. The fact that I was a ball of nerves may have had something to do with it although no one bothered to point that out at the time!. Ofcourse that had everything to do with it! We are influencing our horses all the time by our energy and emotions and the trick is to get that working for us instead of against us.

So, I could certainly call that 1-800 # and order that tiedown or chambon or some other gadget to get my horse to carry himself in a certain way or “frame” because that’s what trainer Joe down the road uses and his horses look nice. Using those devices might get the job done for a lot of people because horses will always try to find the comfort in most situations, and therefore yield to a given device out of fear or pain. Here’s the problem with that ….

For me, it’s not about how the horse looks on the outside, it’s about how the horse feels inside. I want to have a partnership with my horse and buying gadgets just doesn’t seem to fit into that equation. It’s kind of akin to sitting in the dentist’s chair as they are inserting 2’ needle into your gum and telling you to “just relax”. I yield for fear that if I don’t it might hurt worse. Not that different from a horse probably when he has training accoutrements hanging off of him.

In any good relationship, I think it’s a safe bet to say that it works best when you both want to be in said relationship.. correct? And then once that is established , doesn’t each party usually want to do things for the other willingly? And then, don’t good relationships grow to where each can tune into the other s thoughts so well that they can finish each other’s sentences or know what the other is going to do before they even do it? I would say that they are tuned in to each other. That is the sort of relationship I want to foster with my horses and by using gadgets and devices , it doesn’t fit.

So, I will choose to go without the tie downs, the chambons, and all those other devices designed to push, pull, strain, hold, etc. Instead I will strive to tap into a deeper level of awareness because the connection I am looking for goes well beyond physical contact or direct actions. I just hope my horse will be willing to continue to share his secrets.

Back the Arena; Lateral Work; Shoulder-In

Now that the weather is not always going to be conducive to traveling down the road for a conditioning ride, a lot of my time with JB will transition focus to lateral work. As a kid, I was more interested in taking my horse over the fences or galloping at mach chicken speeds between the corn fields any day over practicing what I perceived as “boring” lateral work. Now that I am an adult, I know the value of good lateral work and the benefits my horse and I can both reap from it.

You would think that for someone who has been riding most of her life, I would have lateral exercises mastered by now. Well, unfortunately, the more I worked on it, the more it seemed to make me question things like my seat aids, leg aid, etc. Thankfully, after working with a dressage instructor who also understands human body mechanics and studying Sylvia Loch’s references, I do have this exercise down. Knowing that my own struggles to understand it and then execute it properly are not unique among riders, I thought it was worthy of a blog. In conversations and various observations of other riders, it seems to be a bump in the road for a lot of folks out there. Usually, the Shoulder-In is one of the first lateral exercises a rider/horse begin working on when starting lateral work. In theory, it’s a relatively simple maneuver.

Before attempting a Shoulder-In, there are a few pre-requisites in order to accomplish this successfully. Those include being able to perform a turn on the forehand, leg yield, spiraling in and out of a circle and the ability to ride your horse in a 10 meter circle without losing balance and tempo. Most of these are pretty basic exercises but crucial to having a solid foundation from which to work from when beginning lateral work. While you don’t have to be perfect in these pre requisites, you and your horse should have these things down reasonably well and as the rider, you should be able to clearly communicate the aids to ask for such things. I would suggest starting on the ground with some of these above mentioned exercises. Lateral work from the ground you ask?? Absolutely! Clinician, Alice Trindle does a great job of explaining some of these. There are various resources out there that you can plug into.

So, what is a shoulder- in and why should it be practiced? And .. why is it important for my endurance horse you might be wondering? Other than the fact that the Shoulder-In is really one of the first exercises needed to open the door to collection, it develops the flexibility within the horse so that they can lift the forehand. If you are ever going to have correct transitions, the shoulder in can be crucial. It also helps strengthen the hind quarters. In endurance horses, I am thinking that last part alone is a fairly important piece, don’t you? When performing the Shoulder –In correctly, the horse has to shift the weight to the hindquarters , which helps to strengthen the back and loins, both of which are required to give the horse the physical capacity to begin lifting his back and travel rounded , stepping deep underneath himself with the hind end.

“My endurance horse doesn’t have to travel rounded because we are covering miles and miles over varied terrain, right?” one might say. Maybe not, but strong back, strong loins?? It seems to be that this could benefit even an endurance horse who has to cover miles and miles carrying a rider over varied terrain. Well developed loins and back certainly would apply.

One of the most important elements of the Shoulder-In that you don’t always hear about is that it while is strengthens the hip, loins, back and lightens the front end, this naturally leads to helping crookedness within a horse. Crookedness within a horse is typically related to the strength the horse has to carry not only himself, but his rider correctly.. It only stands to reason that a horse that is strong and has the correct development might not break down physically as much either.

Since JB is one of the most crooked horses I have ever ridden, I have heavily focused on this. Eventually in time it will help him to develop the strength and muscle in order to become straighter in his travels. Without trying to reinvent the wheel , I will run through the correct aids to ask for a shoulder-In. Keep in mind there are many considerations with asking for the movement, ie: injury to horse, injury to rider, etc. There may be some physical limitations you have to keep in mind. Your horse is not going to get this the first time out.

When you first begin the Shoulder –In, remember not to ask too much from your horse. It is much like a person starting a new exercise. It takes time to build up the strength and flexibility within the muscles and joints to master it. If you have ever taken a Yoga class as a beginner, you can appreciate what I am saying! So, do both yourself and your horse a favor and introduce it slowly. He’ll love you for it later!

The Aids for the Shoulder-In

Seat: While sitting lightly in your saddle, your weight should be slightly shifted to your inside seat bone. Your waist and upper body should be slightly be turned to the inside, following the direction of where your horses shoulders should be. Be careful not to collapse at the waist.
Inside hand: Ask gently for a soft feel or flexion to the inside by massaging or squeezing of your fingers around the inside rein. Your hand should beat at the wither, not away from it or crossing over it.
Outside hand: Use your outside rein to support the horse's shoulder and to maintain the direction of travel , all while keeping a soft feel on your horses mouth and keeping this hand very quiet. Your hand should be placed just to the outside of the wither.
Inside leg: To begin to ask, your inside leg should encourage your horse to move away from your leg pressure; do this by a gently squeeze or nudge at his side just behind the girth. As you and your horse become better at this, you can apply your leg at the girth with gently pressure.
Outside leg: Your outside thigh and knee should remain quietly against the saddle and not any more active than to support the horse's forehand. Keep your toes parallel to the travel of the horse.

When you look at the tracks your horses hooves are making, you should see 3 distinct hoof patterns. Inside hind to outside fore (1), outside hind (2)and inside fore (3).

When beginning this, as soon as your horse responds and takes one or two lateral steps, reward him by walking back in a straight line or you can continue around in a 10 meter circle. Remember, it may not be perfect and his tempo may slow to almost a stop, but reward any try he offers in the beginning stages. You will find that in no time at all he can maintain it longer , with greater ease and if you look carefully, he might be smiling!


Other considerations : In beginning lateral work, you may discover other training holes in the process that you have to get squared away before moving on. Yes. With training horses, that is the nature of the beast, revisiting things you thought were fixed up already. It takes time for the horse to develop the muscling and strength and for the rider to get in sync with their horse. It’s like good Jazz music when it all comes together.

Executing this exercise incorrectly can actually be easy to slip into. Asking incorrectly with your aids can result in blocking the exact thing you are trying to accomplish. Always prepare your horse for this exercise so that when you do ask, he does not worry, becoming tense and rushing down the rail with all of his weight on the forehand. Often times, when this occurs, there is an exaggerated use of the inside hand, pulling the horse's head and neck inwards, and throwing the shoulders to the outside, opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. The result? Usually an unhappy horse, heavy on the forehand with locked hindquarters. Yuck!

One aspect of mastering the Shoulder-In that I feel is important to pass along is that this seemingly simple suppling exercise can really go haywire and cause a lot of unnecessary problems if it is not done correctly and carefully. If done correctly, it may take you longer to get there but the other suppling exercises you move onto next will come that much easier and you and your horse will both be that much happier.

So now that summer is officially over and snow is in the forecase, its high time I get back into the arena to start practicing on this lateral work again! Look for the next in the series.. LEG-YIELD

In the Beginning:Natural Matters

Having ridden for the majority of my life and fortunate enough to have parents who provided me with many, many years of good quality riding lessons, I have a lot of stored files in the noggin about horses, riding, equitation, correct aids, you name it. I rode for years with a local Pony Club and then onto a variety of trainers, participated in numerous hunter /jumper shows , 3- day events and also went onto enroll in the riding program in college. I was even fortunate enough to get the opportunity to ride a school master a couple of times.

Even with all of that, I realized after being out on my own, riding and training , that something was missing. For a long time I didn’t know what that missing piece was but being naturally curious I started hunting for an answer. By this time in my equestrian career, I was eastern girl now living in the wild west of Montana. I kept hearing about “natural horsemanship” and “ round pen work” through various avenues. I was familiar enough with working horses in from my days as a groom/assistant trainer for a large scale Arabian farm but it seemed like the buzz about it was different. At first I was leery hearing the catch phrase, “horse whispering” and ‘joining up”. Quite frankly, I thought that the horse “whispering” stuff was a lot of hogwash right from the beginning, before I knew much of anything. Another one that used to be and still is would be the concept of “joining up”. This has been known to send me into a sudden bout of nausea when I hear people talk about it due to the other issues it causes ; like assuming that once a horse has joined up, the horse has now accepted everything and can be ridden. This has manifested itself as dangerous situation in my opinion. Before I get too off track, I do want to say a couple other point that I think are important to point out relative to Natural Horsemanship.
Natural Horsemanship has always been around, going back to the time of Xenophon (430-ca 335 B.C.) He was the father of classical Equitation and wrote the first manual on the riding horse, entitled “The Art of Horsemanship”. He was a horseman of horsemen. He encouraged his pupils to study the the horses “Psyche”. Natural horsemanship is not a new concept.
Less than 15 years ,some very smart American trainers with marketing skills took this concept to new levels and as result, a lot of people made a lot of money in the process. I think that is just fine if people are making money doing something they love but I do believe that horses may have suffered the consequences in the process. With all the buzz out there in the market place about natural horsemanship today, it is difficult to sift through the hype, buzz words, and touchy, feely speak to get to the real core of what it has to offer. In some cases, the marketing hype has reached almost a Pentecostal delivery.I also think that while many Trainers have become household names as a result of this consept, it has also set about a different concept that if your not self labeled as a “natural horsemanship” trainer , you are no good. Let me tell you, many of these natural horsemanship trainers are no better than any other trainer out there.
With that said, in the beginning, my research efforts steered me toward more tangible methods taught by Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman, and even to some extent, Pat Parelli. It was all very different than everything I was used to, having grown up riding the English discipline. While these new methods didn’t make sense to me right way, I was captivated at what these individuals were accomplishing with their horses and there most certainly wasn’t “whispering” going on (thank god). Any of you who have had the opportunity to attend a Buck clinic knows… there isn’t much “whispering” going on in that mans clinics!! Anyways, I knew two things at this early stage of my odyssey; these horsemen were doing things differently and I wanted to know more about it.
It was a few years later but I finally bit the bullet and attended my first horsemanship clinic with a man named Harry Whitney. It was a 4 day clinic that Tom, whom I was now engaged to, was sponsoring. In fact, Tom knew this clinician well and assured me I would not be sorry. So I wrote a big check and prepared to be educated. I figured he couldn’t be too bad because everything Tom had learned had come from Harry. Besides, from what I had seen of Tom’s skills, he seemed to be getting some nice things done with his horses. When the day of the clinic arrived, I was nervous and feeling totally out of my element. It wasn’t long and I was in the middle of it and having a blast. Finally, this was making a lot of sense. With all the information I was trying to absorb, I didn’t have time to be nervous. Harry is a kind patient teacher willing to slow things down if you don’t understand something. Over the next 3 days, I learned about communicating with horses in a totally different way and it wasn’t whispering or even touchy feely. It was real. I was witnessing real changes in my horse when I paid attention to how I asked, when I asked and understanding the careful balance between timing, feel and rewards. (feel not being the same as “touchy feely” mind you)

Late in the day on the final day of the clinic, most of the clinic participants were loaded up , notebooks firmly clutched with all the new ideas they had gathered at the clinic. Since Tom was actually the clinic sponsor, as he had been for the last several years, he and I stayed behind to clean things up and see Harry off to a proper meal. Things were quieting down and sadly coming to an end.

Enter stage right- Harry and Sandy into the arena. I watched and at first it didn’t seem like too much was happening, just trotting around but then things changed. At that moment, still new to all of this but able to recognize something special, Harry asked Sandy into a canter and began what appeared to be a dance between the two. In simple terms it could have been considered a freestyle reining pattern at a collected canter but this was no regular reining pattern you would see at your typical reined cow horse competition. This was something altogether different, something special happening between horse and rider. My writing could never do justice to what I was witnessing but it was obvious that Harry’s thoughts and intents were clear and Sandy was responding in perfect time. There wasn’t so much as a noticeable tug on a rein, a bump of the leg, a noticeable shift in Harry’s seat, but something was happening between the two. Tom and I watched in awe as Harry performed movements that would make most dressage connoisseurs wet their pants. The amazing part for me was the draped rein. This was a perfect display of beautiful communication, trust and true partnership between horse and rider. Looking back, with hours of clinics and time spent in the round pen now under my belt, I know that there was conversation going on there between Harry and Sandy but it was not heard, it was thought and felt between the two. It was amazing and a moment that has been branded in my mind forever. I knew I wanted what he had and have since focused my energy in acquiring better horsemanship skills by approaching horse training from a different angle. I don’t like to use the buzz words like natural horsemanship because , like so many other things, it gets lost in translation; instead I see it more as a common sense approach refer to it as coming to an clearer understanding of making what I am asking, mean something to a horse.

Harry’s focus is to look at things from the horse’s perspective. Get inside the horses mind and let the horse think through the things you ask, help him to figure it out because he can, and offer him an opportunity to work with you as partners. They are living, breathing thinking creatures with unique personalities. Harry taught me about the horses mind and that one little piece has made the biggest difference for me in my quest to build a better understanding between myself and my horses. By the end of that first clinic, I was completely energized and my mind was reeling. It was a totally different approach but finally it felt like it was the missing link I had been looking for.

Since that first clinic, I have attended many clinics by various clinicians. I have studied practiced and studied some more. I have watched hours of videos by various teachers, attended numerous seminars, demonstrations and take any other opportunity to broaden my knowledge base. Some of what is out there I like, some of what is out there doesn’t work for me, or I have modified it to work for me and /or my horse. There is always something new to learn with horses. More importantly, I am always amazed at what the horses have been able to teach me over the years.

Unfortunately, what I have learned over the years and continue to learn is not the kind of thing that I could even begin to try to capture in a blog. When it comes to training horses, I don’t believe the cook book methods that are out there work well because every person and every horse is different. You simply have to get out there and start working on this stuff. Sometimes, you have to fail and start over, learning from your mistakes.

I certainly didn’t have it figured out by the end of that first clinic and I certainly don’t have it all figured out now, but maybe through my experiences that I plan to post on this blog, I can pass along something for someone else to learn. It’s been my experience that we are all trying to improve our horse skills in some fashion or another. My hope is that I can share with you some of my own training efforts as I continue to strive to build better relationships with my horses. I don’t prefer to call myself a horse trainer and I don’t even like to use the term of natural horsemanship because of the negative connotations that have associated with it. The way I see it, anyone can go pay their dues, sign up onto a training program with some of the “natural horsemanship” trainers out there, and 10 weeks later, they have a signed certificate that says they are a horse trainer. To me that piece of paper doesn’t mean much. You have to put the time in, a lot of time, I have spent a lifetime of working with horses on many different levels and disciplines. I have put a lot of time into studying and working with horses, working on training methods, etc. but there is always something else to learn.

Now, off to go work Brego and use that homemade flag sponsored by Target stores plastic shopping bags! Sure beats spending $30 bucks for the endorsed option!